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DAYAHA SECONDARY SCHOOL

FORM FOUR PHYSICS
CHAPTER EIGHT
SOUND

INTRODUCTION
Sound is a form of energy propagated by
vibrating body which can travel from place
to place. We hear sounds such as clocks
ticking, airplanes flying, cars moving, people talking, dogs barking and music being
played all around us.
 Sound wave is a mechanical longitudinal wave. This means it needs a material
medium to propagate and the particles of the medium vibrate in the direction of
wave travel. Different sounds have different frequencies.
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 The human ear can hear sound waves of frequencies between 20Hz to
20000Hz, this is called audible range. Human speech contains sounds
between 600Hz and 4800Hz.
 Sound waves that have frequencies below 20Hz are called infrasonic. (or
simply infrasound) while sound waves that have frequencies above 20 000Hz
are called ultrasonic (or simply ultrasound).
 Human speech contains sound of frequencies between 600Hz to 4800Hz.
SOUND TRANSMISSION AND SPEED OF SOUND
Sound does not travel through a vacuum (empty space), it is transmitted only a
material medium. Liquids are better transmitters of sound than gases, and solids are
better transmitters of sound than either liquids or gases.

WHAT IS A BELL JAR?

A bell jar is laboratory equipment used for creating a
vacuum, to show that sound requires medium.

SPEED OF SOUND IN AIR

The speed of sound in air is 331 m/s at 0°C and
changes by 0.6m/s for each degree Celsius. Where,
temperature is in degree Celsius.

Example
What is the speed of sound in air at 35°C?
Example
A lightning flash is seen 10 seconds before thunder is
heard. Find the distance to the lightning flash if the
temperature is 20°C.
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PROPERTIES OF SOUND
1. REFLECTION
Sound waves are reflected well from hard flat surfaces such as walls or cliffs
and obey the same laws of reflection as light.
The reflected sound is called an echo.

In some halls, sound waves are reflected from the walls, floor and ceiling. Since
the echo time is short, the echo overlaps with the original sound. The original
sound thus seems to be prolonged, an effect called reverberation.
Surfaces of materials such as cotton, wool and foam rubber absorb most of the
energy of incident sound waves. Because of this property, such materials are
used in places where echo effects are not desirable. The walls of broadcasting
studios and concert halls are thus made of absorbent materials.
APPLICATION OF REFLECTION OF SOUND
a. Determination of speed of sound
Example:1
Two boys stand 200m from a wall. One
bangs two pieces of wood together while
the second starts a stop-watch and stops
it when he hears the echo. If the time
shown on the stop-watch is 1.2 seconds,
calculate the speed of the sound.
Example: 2
A student stands at a distance of 100m from a wall and claps two pieces of
wood together. After the first clap, the student claps whenever an echo is heard
from the wall. Another student starts a stopwatch at the fifth clap and stops it
at the fifty-fifth clap. The stopwatch records a total time of 25 s. Find the speed
of the sound.
b. ECHOLOCATION
Echolocation is the process finding distances by sending ultrasonic pulses and
detecting it after reflection. Echolocation allows animals such as bats and
dolphins to locate the object’s exact position.

Example-1
A ship sends sound wave and receives an echo
after 3 seconds. How deep is the water if the
speed of sound in water is 1500m/s?
Solution
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S = vt/2
S = (1500m/s*3s)/2
S = 2250m

2. REFRACTION
Sound can be refracted like light. Just as for light, refraction takes place at the
boundary between two media in which the speed of travel is different. In the
open air, there is no sharp boundary. However, air temperature decreases as
the altitude increases. Furthermore, sound travels faster in air at higher
temperatures. Combining these two effects, the different layers of air at
different altitudes serve to refract sound gradually.
This explains why sound is usually more difficult to hear in the day time than
at night. You can notice this on a hot day or a cold night.
 On a hot day the air near the ground is hot so the sound wave bends upwards
from the hot air into the cold air.
 On a cold night the air near the ground is cold and so the sound wave bends
downwards. This is why you can sometimes hear sounds from a long way away
if the night air is cold.

3. DIFFRACTION
Diffraction of sound is the spreading of sound waves when they passé edges
and go through small openings. Sound from your mouth spreads out in all
directions because of diffraction by the sides of the mouth. Therefore, a person
behind you can hear what you say even when you are facing away from him.
Waves with longer wave lengths are diffracted more than waves with shorter
wave lengths.
4. INTERFERENCE
Interference of sound is a phenomenon in which two sound waves superpose
to form a resultant wave of greater or lower amplitude. If the two waves
reinforce with each other and become louder, the effect is called constructive
interference. But if the two
sound waves cancel each
other, the effect is called
destructive interference.
DOPPLER EFFECT
The Doppler Effect (or the Doppler
shift) is the change in frequency of a
wave (or other periodic event) for an
observer moving relative to its
source. It is named after the Austrian
physicist Christian Doppler
Application of Doppler Effect
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The handheld radar guns used by police to check for speeding vehicles use the
Doppler effect. Here is how they work:
1. A police officer takes a position on the side of the road.
2. The officer aims his radar gun at an approaching vehicle. The gun sends out a
burst of radio waves at a particular frequency.
3. The radio waves strike the vehicle and bounce back toward the radar gun.
4. The radar gun measures the frequency of the returning waves. Because the car
is moving toward the gun, the frequency of the returning waves will be higher
than the frequency of the waves initially transmitted by the gun. The faster the
car's speed, the higher the frequency of the returning wave.
5. The difference between the emitted frequency and the reflected frequency is
used to determine the speed of the vehicle. A computer inside the gun performs
the calculation instantly and displays a speed to the officer.

ULTRA SOUND
Sounds above the range of human hearing are called ultrasonic sounds or
ultrasound. It is above 20 kHz. It can be detected electronically and displayed
on a CRO. Some animals like dogs can detect it.
APPLICATION OF ULTRASOUND
1. Ultrasound is used in SONAR to measure the depth of the sea and to locate the
underwater objects like shipwrecks, submarines and sea rocks. Some animals
like dogs, bats and dolphins can send ultrasound and detect the reflection of
the ultrasound to find the position of an object
2. Ultrasound is used to investigate inside the human body. Echocardiography
helps the doctors to study the condition of the hurt of a patient. Stones in the
gall-bladder and kidneys can be located with ultrasound.
3. Ultrasonic guidance device for the blind person use ultrasound. The blind
person carries a transmitter of ultrasonic waves. The reflected waves are
detected by an electronic device and heard through an earpiece. A trained user
can learn to see the obstacles.
4. Ultrasound is used to scan the worm to monitor the health and sometimes to
determine the sex of an unborn baby, an ultrasonic transmitter-receiver is
scanned over the mother’s abdomen and a detailed image of the fetus is built
up. Reflection of ultrasonic pulses occurs from boundaries of soft tissue.
We use ultrasound for scanning over mother’s abdomen rather than X-rays
because
 Ultrasound is safer than X-rays
 Ultrasound can distinguish between different layers of soft tissue.

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MUSICAL NOTE
Musical notes originate from a source vibrating in a uniform manner Musical notes
can be described in terms of; pitch, loudness and quality and these are effects on
the ear caused by intensity, frequency and harmonic content respectively. We will
consider these three effects one by one.
a. INTENSITY AND LOUDNESS
The intensity of a sound is the time rate at which the sound energy flows
through a unit area. More briefly, the intensity is the average power
transported by unit area. Intensity is measured in watts per square meter. The
loudness of sound is the effect of the intensity of sound on the ears.

b. FREQUENCY AND PITCH

Pitch is a property of sound determined by its frequency. High-pitched sounds
are associated with high frequencies. Low-pitched sounds are associated with
low frequencies. A man’s speaking voice produces sound with frequencies
around 130 Hz; a woman’s speaking voice produces sound with an average
frequency of 250 Hz.
c. HARMONICS AND QUALITIES
A taut wire or string which vibrates as a single unit produces its loose
frequency called its fundamental. Fundamental (f0) and tones having
frequencies which are whole number multiples of the fundamental are called
harmonics, such as 2f1, 3f1, 41 and so on. Thus the fundamental frequency
f0 is the first harmonic, 2f0 (the first overtone) is the second harmonic, 3f0
(the second overtone) is the third harmonic and so on.
The quality of a sound is a result of the number of harmonics which are
present.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
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A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds

(note) that originates from a source vibrating in a uniform manner. Irregular
vibrations cause noise. Musical instruments can be classified in to three main
categories, and they are:
1. Stringed instrument
2. Wind instrument
3. Precaution instrument