The physics of Sound

Characteristics of sound
Sound waves passing through a medium
causes the particles to vibrate. These vibrations produce compressions and rarefactions (regions where pressure is above and below normal) Frequencies from 1 20 Hz are called subsonic and cannot be heard by humans. Frequencies above 20kHz ultrasonic.

Uses of ultrasonic waves

Ultrasonic waves (frequencies ranging from
about 20,000 Hz to 100,000 Hz.) [is to be
distinguished from supersonics, which deals with phenomena arising when the velocity of a solid body exceeds the speed of sound.] ultrasonic

waves are rendered visible by the diffraction of light and are used to: 1. Clean jewellery and teeth 2. In medicine

Ultrasonics by itself is just sound frequencies above what you can hear. I guess we all know that the home washing machine is a pretty practical device. You put your clothes in and it swishes them around not much different then beating your clothes with rocks..

 If you could imagine the passage of sound

waves through water, or through your solution. It generates or grows bubbles in the solution. These bubbles grow in size and if you were to blow into a balloon it would reach a point where it would go bang. If you'd take a pin and touch the balloon it would also go bang sooner than it would the other way

 With ultrasonics what we do is we grow

these bubbles. We grow millions of them and then at the right time we pop these bubbles. When we pop these bubbles they collapse, the fluid surrounding the bubbles collapse with great force. They create shock waves upwards of 20,000 pounds per square inch. Now you might say that's a lot of pressure, well it is. That's our cleaning mechanism, that's why ultrasonics is such a strong cleaning force.

 Now there's another by-product, when this

water or fluid rushes in towards the center of this cavity it also generates high temperatures upwards of 20,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Well you might say that's pretty hot but it's microscopic so you don't really see the effect

Ultrasonics in Alarms
The ultrasonic system consists of a
transmitter, which emits a frequency that lies above the human threshold of hearing, and a receiver, that monitors the incoming frequency. The entire system is generally self-contained in one unit.

 The sound waves that leave the

transmitter follow an elliptical pattern, and ultimately return to the receiver. If those waves are somehow altered during their elliptical journey the receiver will know it, and the alarm will sound. Therefore the theory is that if a burglar enters a guarded area, the ultrasonic frequency will be altered by his/her presence, thus alerting the receiver to an intrusion. The ultrasonic system is very effective, and the range is generally about 40-50 feet.

Ultrasonics in Medicine
In medicine, ultrasonics is used as a diagnostic
tool, to destroy diseased tissue, and to repair damaged tissue. Ultrasonic waves have been employed to treat various types of rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and muscular injuries and to destroy kidney stones. As a diagnostic tool, ultrasonics is often more revealing than X rays, which do not prove as useful in detecting the subtle density differences found in certain forms of cancer. It is also widely used to produce images of the foetus during pregnancy.

Characteristics of sound
Sensitivity of the Ear
Range of frequencies that can be heard depends on age and other medical conditions but most persons should hear 20 16 000 Hz.

Sound Intensity
Intensity (I) is the rate of flow of energy per unit area normal to the wave (W m-2) The ear can detect a wide range of intensities Min. Intensity =(10-12 W m-2) . Max = 100 W m-2)

 At Max = 100 W m

pain is felt. If the intensity of sound reaching the ear is too great then discomfort is felt. Discomfort is felt at an intensity of 1 Wm-2). Above this value pain is felt.
-2

Whisper- 10-8 Wm-2 Intensity 40 dB Jet overhead 10-2 Wm-2 - Intensity 100 dB The response of the ear to intensity of sound at different levels is not linear. Equal changes in intensity across the audible range are not perceived as equal change in loudness.

 E.g. If the intensity changes from

1 x 10-7 W m-2 to 2 x 10-7 W m-2 and then to 3 x 10-7 W m-2 the ear would judge that the loudness had increased by a smaller amount for the second change.

For the ear to judge that the loudness has

increased in equal steps, the intensity would have to increase by the same ratio on each occasion, i.e. 1,2,4,8

Intensity
Decibel Scale
The human ear in capable of hearing very quiet (low intensity) sounds and extremely loud (high intensity) sounds. The ratio of intensities between 'silence' and 'oooow, that hurts my ears' is about 1:100 million million. To make a sound 'twice as loud', you need to mulitply its intensity by about 10...so an intensity of 1,000 is twice as loud as an intensity of 100, but half as loud as an intensity of 10,000. (The units of acoustic intensity are watts per square meter or W m-2). It makes things easier if a logarithmic scale is used, called the decibel scale.

 In decibel terms, a doubling in loudness

corresponds to an increase in 10dB - it doesn't matter whether that increase is from 10dB to 20dB or 100dB to 110dB. How does this work? Let's see...

On the left-hand graph, where intensity is plotted on a linear ( W m-2) scale, this relationship is clear. On the right-hand graph, where intensity is plotted on a logarithmic (dB) scale, the curve becomes a straight line.

 Loudness change depends on

intensity change Initial intensity. The lowest sound intensity which the average human ear can detect is approx. 10-12 W m-2 at 1000 Hz. This is the threshold Intensity Io. Any increase in intensity is perceived as an increase in loudness of the sound. The perceived loudness does not increase linearly with intensity but logarithmically.

Decibel Scale

 Intensity level = 10 log I/Io

I is the intensity of the sound incident on the ear. Intensity level is measured in decibel (dB) Sensitivity and frequency response The human ear can distinguish between differences of 2 or 3 Hz in the frequency range 60 1000 Hz. Beyond 1000 Hz. It becomes progressively more difficult to distinguish close frequencies.

 The smallest intensity which can be heard

by the ear is the threshold of hearing and is taken as 10-12 W m-2 at 1000 Hz. The threshold of hearing varies with frequency.

 For low frequencies, much below 1 kHz,

higher intensities are required. If this were not the case, it would be possible to hear our own blood flow which would cause interference for the reception of external sounds. Loudness and Noise are subjective qualities It appears that loudness and Intensity levels are related- Not strictly true.

Ray Optics
Reflection / Refraction / Total
Internal reflection

Reflection
Light always follows the law of reflection,
whether the reflection occurs off a curved surface or off a flat surface.

The image location is the location where all

reflected light appears to converge or diverge from.

Images produced by plane mirrors have a number of properties, including: the image produced is upright the image is the same size as the object (i.e., the magnification is m = 1) the image is the same distance from the mirror as the object appears to be (i.e., the image distance = the object distance) the image is a virtual image, as opposed to a real image, because the light rays do not actually pass through the image. This also implies that an image could not be focused on a screen placed at the location of the image.

Object in a plane mirror

Image in a plane mirror

Plane mirrors

Real side

Virtual side

Angle of incidence Normal Angle of reflection

i=-p Virtual image

Problem: Two plane mirrors make an angle of 90o. How many images are there for an object placed between them?
mirror

eye object 2 mirror

1 3

 When two plane mirrors are joined at a 90o

angle, three virtual images are produced. Geometrically, the object and the three images lie at the corners of a rectangle whose centre is the line of intersection of the mirrors. Two reflections occur to form the central image.

QUESTION
How tall must a mirror be for a person to see his entire reflection in it? Let the height of a man be 1m and let the top of the head to the eye be 10 cm

REFRACTION

Light entering or exiting a water surface is bent by refraction. The index of refraction for water is 4/3, implying that light travels 3/4 as fast in water as it does in vacuum
When a wave travels from one medium to another, at an angle, it changes direction. What happens if this wave goes into a block of glass? Which parameters will change?

 Speed - this is smaller. The wave slows

down. Wavelength - this is smaller too Frequency - this must be the same. The number of waves going in every second must equal the number of waves coming out. Amplitude - this is unchanged

What happens if the waves approach the boundary at an angle?

Refractive Index
The "refractive index" of a medium tells us
how much its slows down the waves that enter it. It is equal to the ratio of the speed before it enters to the speed inside. If light travels at a speed v inside a certain type of glass then its refractive index, n=c/v

 The refractive index is always a number

bigger than 1.It has to be as v must always be less than c.

 The refractive index is also equal to the

ratio of sin i to sin r. This is called Snell's law. Generally n1sin 1= n2 sin 2

Critical Angle & Total Internal Reflection

 Total internal reflection (TIR) is the

phenomenon which involves the reflection of all the incident light off the boundary. TIR only takes place when both of the following two conditions are met: the light is in the more dense medium and approaching the less dense medium. the angle of incidence is greater than the so-called critical angle.

Optical Fibres
Optical fibers are used in communication
systems, micro-surgeries, Plumbing - to inspect sewer lines Since total internal reflection takes place within the fibers, no incident energy is ever lost due to the transmission of light across the boundary. The intensity of the signal remains constant.

Fiber optics (optical fibers) are long, thin strands of very pure glass about the diameter of a human hair

 The angle is called the Acceptance Angle.

Any light entering the fibre at less than this angle will meet the cladding at an angle greater than C . If light meets the inner surface of the cladding (the core - cladding interface) at greater than or equal to C then TIR occurs. So all the energy in the ray of light is reflected back into the core and none escapes into the cladding.

 The ray then crosses to the other side of the core

and, because the fibre is more or less straight , the ray will meet the cladding on the other side at an angle which again causes TIR. The ray is then reflected back across the core again and the same thing happens. In this way the light zig zags its way along the fibre. This means that the light will be transmitted to the end of the fibre.

Some of the light signal degrades within the

fibre, mostly due to impurities in the glass

 The following is an optical fiber made of two

glasses made of different refractive indices. What is the critical angle for the boundary between the two glasses?

Sin C = n2 / n1 = 1.47 / 1.52 = 75.3

Advantages of using Optical Fibres

Less expensive - Several miles of optical
cable can be made cheaper than equivalent lengths of copper wire. This saves your provider (cable TV, Internet) and you money. Thinner - Optical fibres can be drawn to smaller diameters than copper wire. Low power - Because signals in optical fibers degrade less, lower-power transmitters can be used instead of the high-voltage electrical transmitters needed for copper wires.

 Higher carrying capacity - Because

optical fibers are thinner than copper wires, more fibers can be bundled into a givendiameter cable than copper wires. This allows more phone lines to go over the same cable or more channels to come through the cable into your cable TV box. Lightweight - An optical cable weighs less than a comparable copper wire cable. Fiber-optic cables take up less space in the ground

 Less signal degradation - The loss of

signal in optical fiber is less than in copper wire. Light signals - Unlike electrical signals in copper wires, light signals from one fiber do not interfere with those of other fibers in the same cable. This means clearer phone conversations or TV reception.

LENSES
A converging (convex) lens refracts a
parallel beam of light so it converges to a point

 The image formed at F is a real image. A diverging (concave) lens refracts a parallel
beam of light so that it appears to have diverged from a point F.

Lens Formula
The image formed at F is a virtual image. The most fundamental property of a lens is its
ability to form images. The lens formula can be used to predict object or image positions, focal length and magnification. LENS FORMULA:

1 1 1 u v f

 In order to enable the same formula to be

used for all form of lens, a sign convention is required. Convention: Real is positive. Real object or image distances are positive Virtual object or image distances are negative For converging lens, f = positive For diverging lens, f = negative

e.g. An object is placed 1.20 m from a screen. A converging lens is then moved between the object and the screen until an image is seen on the screen. If the lens is 0.35 m from the object, a) find the focal length of the lens. b) the object is now moved towards the lens until it is placed just 0.20 m from the lens. Where is the new position of the image formed by the lens, and is it virtual or real?

(a) Object and image is real so, u = +0.35, v = 1.02 0.35 = +0.85 m, f = ? (b) f = +0.35 m, u = + 0.20 m, v = ?

Relating focal length to power in dioptres.

The shorter the focal length, the more
powerful the lens must be.

Parallel rays are refracted to a greater extent by the increased curvature

 In the market of eyeglasses, instead of focal

length people prefer speak of lens power, measured in diopters / (dioptres). So, if you have to buy an eyeglass lens, you need to know its power. Focal length and power of a lens are bound to each other and you can easily pass from one to the other using this simple formula: Power in dioptres = 1/ focal length in metres converging lens of focal length +0.50 m has a power of +2.0 D. Diverging lens of f = -0.25 m, has power = -4.0 D.

The eye
Most obvious feature- the iris (a coloured
ring behind the cornea which surrounds a circular aperture called the pupil). The iris controls to some extent the amount of light entering the eye. The diameter of the pupil in the centre of the iris can vary from 1.5 mm to 8.0 mm. The area allowing light in can range from 1.8 mm2 to 50 mm2.

 When fully opened it allows approximately

30 times more light than when it is at its smallest. Refraction occurs at the boundaries between the air, lens, humours and cornea to form a real, inverted and diminished image.

Depth of focus and Accomodation

 At each boundary between two media,

refraction may occur. The most significant media change occurs as the light ray enters the cornea from air. n = 1.00 to n = 1.38- significant refraction towards the normal. As it leaves the cornea- slight bending away from the normal (n for aqueous humour is close to n for cornea.

 Refraction at the lens boundary contributes

only slightly to increasing the convergence of incoming rays The major task of the lens is not to converge the light but to produce slight adjustments to the focusing. To achieve this the lens is connected to a circular ring of muscles called the ciliary muscles. Ciliary muscles control the shape of the lens.

 When the muscles are relaxed the lens is

thinner and less refracting. N.B. Lens-cornea combination focuses the light onto the retina Within this combination, it is the cornea that is responsible for most of the refraction. Function of the lens is to fine-tune the focusing by altering its shape and hence its power. This fine tuning technique is called ACCOMMODATION.

 If the eye views a distant object, the rays are

almost parallel when they enter the eye. Ciliary muscles relax since the eye lens when thin has a focal length of about 17 mm (appprox dist from lens to retina). The eye can focus that object.

 When the eye views a near object- the

rays entering will be diverging. The lens must become stronger to focus the light on the retina. Ciliary muscles squash the lens around its edges to increase the power. For normal adults, the shortest object distance the eye lens can produce a focussed image is 250 mm (eyes near point). The far point is at infinity.

Eye defects

 When a person views a distant object,

there is a range of positions around that object, both closer to the eye and further away from it , where other objects are also in focus. Same applies to the near point {range of focused positions is shorter in this case}

Not all three images are on the retina. If the circular patch formed on the retina is small enough to cover no more than a few rods and cones then all three positions are in acceptable focus.

Depth of field is the range of distance within the subject that is acceptably sharp.

EXTENDED DEPTH OF FIELD

SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD

 The angle at which rays enter the eye from

a distant object varies little over a wide range of distances. For a given depth of focus the range of distances over which an acceptable image is focussed is large. Not so for near objects. If a second object is only a small distance from the viewed object, its image distance on the retina is relatively large. The circular patch on the retina will be too large for clarity.

Short sight

Only objects close to the eye, 1m or less can be focused.

Caused by inability of the eye to allow the lens to relax enough

Eye malformed

Near sightedness

Correction of short sight

When viewing a near object it might now be impossible to view without removing the lens

Long sight (Hypermetropia)

Optical system not powerful enough to focus the light from close objects.

Caused by: malformed eye (distance between lens and retina too short
Inability of the eye to made the lens thicker.

Correction of long sight

Far sightedness

Cataract
A cataract is a film that grows on the eyes
causing them to see double or blurred images. However, a cataract does not form on the eye, but rather within the eye.

No Cataract

With Cataract

Normal Vision

A cataract is a clouding of the natural lens, the part of the eye responsible for focusing light and producing clear, sharp images. The lens is contained in a sealed bag or capsule. As old cells die they become trapped within the capsule. Over time, the cells accumulate causing the lens to cloud, making images look blurred or fuzzy. For most people, cataracts are a natural result of aging.

Astigmatism
Person has difficulty focusing light rays
from different planes at the same time.

 Astigmatism is the most common refractive

problem responsible for blurry vision. You may also hear astigmatism called a refractive error. Most of the eyeball's focusing power occurs along the front surface of the eye, involving the tear film and cornea (the clear 'window' along the front of the eyeball). The ideal cornea has a round surface. Anything other than round contributes to abnormal corneal curvature -- this is astigmatism.

Some explanations for acquired astigmatism include: The weight of the upper eyelid resting on the eyeball Healed corneal lacerations (scarring) Blunt eye trauma (being hit in the eye) Scarring in the cornea from other causes like infections Changes in corneal shape following eye surgery

 Cause: Uneven surface of the cornea (different

planes of the surface have different curvature) Correction Use a cylindrical lens adjusted so that its axis is perpendicular to the axis in which the eye is having difficulty focus.

Astigmatism

A good way to demonstrate the effects of astigmatism. Look at your reflection in the curved surface of a round soup spoon and compare it with your reflection in an oval teaspoon.

Using lens formula to calculate the focal length of glasses used for correction of vision defects
A person cannot focus images nearer than
0.50 m. Identify the defect of the eye and suggest the type and power of the lens which correct it. [Assume that the near point is 250 mm from the eye]

Person can focus object from infinity to 0.50 m, he must be long sighted. Correct using a converging lens. Fig. shows a lens used to correct the defect. The image is 500 mm on the same side as the object, it is virtual.

 u = +250 mm. v = -500 mm

f = + 1/500 = + 1/0.50 = +2.50 D Question 2 A person with defective vision cannot see clearly objects which are closer than 1.4 m from his eyes. Estimate the power of the lenses required so that the person can read normally

Needs a converging lens that will cause a near point object 250 mm from the eye to form an image at 1.4 m from the eye. The virtual image at 1400 mm from the eye is on the same side as the lens. f = +1.4 m Power = 0.7 D

Optical instruments
The Telescope

If the objective is brought closer to the object, the image moves away and becomes larger

The Microscope

So, what distinguishes a microscope from a telescope? As you can see, the optical structure is the same, but with telescopes objects are distant whereas in a microscope they are close. -Normally a telescope observes objects typically placed at hundreds of meters or more, and a microscope observes objects placed at a few millimetres or less from the objective.