THE DOPPLER EFFECT

1. What is meant by the term Doppler effect? 2. a) Which principle can be applied to explain what happens to the pitch of a sound as the source comes closer and closer, pass you and move away? b) Why does this happen? c) Give a real-life example. 3. How can the Doppler effect be used to measure the motion of the Earth and a star? 4. A car passes a pedestrian who is standing at a crossing at 10 m.s-1. the driver sounds the hooter which has a frequency of 150 Hz. What frequency will the pedestrian hear? 5. You are standing on a balcony of a block of flats as a fire engine passes in the street below with a velocity of 20 m.s-1. The siren of the fire engine has frequency of 1000 Hz. Calculate the frequency of the siren that you hear as the fire engine approaches you. b) Calculate the frequency of the siren that you hear as the fire engine has passed you. c) Use the answers in a) and b) to explain what you will hear. d) A car is driving in the same next to the fire engine with a speed of 30 m.s-1. The car passes as the siren is blown. Calculate the frequency of the siren that the driver of the car would hear after passing the fire engine.
a)

6. A hawk emits sounds at a frequency of 90 Hz. a) If a stationary observer hears the sounds at 88 Hz, is the hawk flying towards or away from the observer? b) Calculate the speed with which the hawk is flying.

SOLUTIONS 1. Doppler Effect is the apparent variation in frequency of any emitted wave, such as a wave of light or sound, as the source of the wave approaches or moves away from an observer. 2. a) Doppler's principle. b) If a source of sound of a constant pitch is moving towards an observer, the sound seems higher in pitch, whereas if the source is moving away it seems lower. c) It can be heard by an observer listening to the whistle of a train coming into a station, passing you and moving away. 3. The lines in the spectrum of a luminous body such as a star are similarly shifted towards the violet if the distance between the star and the Earth is decreasing and towards the red if the distance is increasing. By measuring this shift, the relative motion of the Earth and the star can be calculated. 4. fobserver = vsound vobserver fsource vsound vsource = = 340 + 0 .150 340 + 10 145,71 Hz

5. a) fobserver = vsound vobserver fsource vsound vsource = = 340 + 0 340 - 20 1062,5 Hz .1000

b) fobserver = vsound vobserver fsource vsound vsource = = 340 + 0 .1000 340 + 20 944,44 Hz

c) As the fire engine approaches you the pitch of the siren is higher and as the fire engine moves away, the pitch of the siren becomes lower. d) fobserver = vsound vobserver fsource vsound vsource = = 340 - 30 340 + 20 861,11 Hz .1000

6. a) The hawk is moving away as the pitch of the sounds became lower. b) fobserver = vsound vobserver fsource vsound vsource 88 88 90 = = 340 - 0 340 + vs 340___ 340 + vs .90

340 + vs = 340 x 90 88 vs = 340 x 90 - (340) 88 vs = 7,73 m.s-1