Chapter 6

Waves and Sound

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Waves — types and properties
 A wave is a traveling disturbance consisting
of coordinate vibrations that transmit energy
with no net movement of matter.
 The disturbance is frequently called an
oscillation or vibration.
 The substance through which the wave travels
is called the medium.

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 There are two main wave types:
 Transverse waves have oscillations that are
perpendicular (transverse) to the direction the
wave travels.
 Examples include waves on a rope,
electromagnetic waves and some seismic waves.
 Longitudinal waves have oscillations that are
along the direction the wave travels.
 Examples include sound and some seismic
waves.

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 This figure illustrates the two main types of
waves.

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 Consider a string of length l and mass m.
 The speed at which a wave travels on the
string when it is under a tension T is
T
v= .
ρ
 ρ is the mass per unit length:
m
ρ= .
l
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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 From this we see that the speed:
 Increases as the tension increases.
 The string has a greater restoring force that
attempts to straighten it out.
 Is faster for smaller strings.
 The string has less mass that has to be moved by
the restoring force.
 Is independent of the length.
 The speed depends on the mass per length, not
on just the length.

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Example
Example 6.1
A student stretches a Slinky out on the floor to a
length of 2 meters. The force needed to keep
the Slinky stretched in measured and found to
be 1.2 newtons. The Slinky’s mass is
0.3 kilograms. What is the speed of any wave
sent down the Slinky by the student?

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Example
Example 6.1

ANSWER: l=2m
The problem gives us: F = 1.2 N
m = 0.3 kg

The linear mass density is

m 0.3 kg
ρ= = = 0.15 kg/m
l 2m
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Example
Example 6.1

ANSWER:
The wave speed is then
F 1.2 N
v= = = 2.8 m/s.
ρ 0.15 kg/m

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 The speed of a sound wave when the air is at
a temperature T is
v = 20.1× T .
 The temperature must be in Kelvin.

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Example
Example 6.2
What is the speed of sound in air at room
temperature (20ºC = 68ºF)?

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Example
Example 6.2

ANSWER:
The problem gives us: T = 20º C

We need to convert this temperature from

celsius to kelvin:
T = 20 + 273 = 293 K
The sound speed is then
v = 20.1 × 293 = 344 m/s
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Example
Example 6.2

DISCUSSION:
The factor of 20.1 depends on the properties
of air.
For other gases:
 Helium:
v = 58.8 × T .
 Carbon dioxide:
v = 15.7 × T .
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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 The amplitude of a wave is the maximum
displacement of the wave from the equilibrium
position.
 It is just the distance equal to the height of a
peak or the depth of a valley.

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 The wavelength is the distance between
successive “like” points on a wave.
 “Like” points might be peaks, valleys, etc.
 The wavelength is denoted by the Greek
letter lambda: λ .

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 Here is an illustration of
changing the wavelength
and/or amplitude.
 Lower amplitude implies
smaller height/depth.
 Shorter wavelength
implies more complete
waves “fit” in a given
distance.

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 The frequency of a wave indicates the
number of cycles of a wave that pass a given
point per unit time.
 It is the number of oscillations per second.

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 We use different terminology for the “peaks”
and “valleys” of a longitudinal wave.
 A compression is where the medium is squeezed
together.
 A expansion is where the medium is spread apart.

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Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 The wavelength and frequency are related to
the wave speed according to:

v = f λ.
 v is the wave’s speed,
 f is the wave’s frequency, and
 λ is the wave’s wavelength.

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Example
Example 6.3
Before a concert, musicians in an orchestra
tune their instruments to the note A, which
has a frequency of 440 Hz. What is the
wavelength of this sound in air at room
temperature?

The speed of sound at this temperature is

344 m/s.

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Example
Example 6.3

ANSWER:
f = 440 Hz
The problem gives us:
v = 344 m/s
The relation between frequency, wavelength
and wave speed is
v= fλ
The wavelength is then
v 344 m/s
λ= = = 0.78 m
f 440 Hz 26
Waves — types and properties, cont’d
 A complex wave is any continuous wave that
does not have a sinusoidal shape.

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Aspects of wave propagation
 There are two approaches to represent a
wave.
 A wavefront is a circle representing the
location of a wave peak.
 A ray is an arrow
representing the
direction that a
wave segment
is traveling.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 A reflection is when a wave abruptly changes
direction.
 A wave is reflected whenever it reaches a
boundary of its medium or encounters an
abrupt change in the properties of its medium.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 We can use either model to
examine reflection from a
flat mirror.
 The point behind the mirror
from which the reflection
appears to originate is called
the image.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 For a curved surface, the reflections can be
focused to a point.
 Examples include satellite dishes, radar
receivers, etc.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 The Doppler effect is an apparent change in a
wave’s wavelength due to the relative motion
between the source and
receiver.
 Consider a source
emitting waves and
moving to the right.
 The crests appear
closer together in the
direction the source
moves. 34
Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 The crests appear farther apart in the
direction opposite to the source’s motion.
 These changes cause
the frequency to sound
different since the wave
travels at the same
speed relative to the
medium.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 A shock wave occurs whenever the speed of
the source is greater than the wave speed.
 The medium cannot respond fast enough to
propagate the wave.
 The crests essentially “pile up” in front of the
source.
 This build-up causes a large-amplitude pulse.
 This produces a sonic boom for supersonic
aircraft.
 A fast boat creates a bow wave.
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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 Watching the waves expand from the source
over time, we can construct a leading edge
for the shock wave.
 The angle of this leading-
edge was an important
discovery for jet-planes.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 Diffraction results whenever a wave has to
travel past a barrier or obstruction.
 As the wave travels through the opening, the
outgoing waves bend.
 The amount of diffraction
depends on the wavelength
and the size of the
obstruction.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 When the opening is much larger than the
wavelength, there is little diffraction.
 The amount of diffraction increases as the
wavelength
becomes more
similar to the
size of the
opening.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 Diffraction explains why you
can hear a sound through a
door even if you’re behind a
wall.
 The sound’s wavelength is
much longer than the size
of the door, so the sound
wave bends around the
wall.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 Interference occurs whenever two or more
waves
overlap.

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Aspects of wave propagation, cont’d
 When the waves
interfere to create a
larger amplitude, we
call it constructive
interference.
 When the waves
interfere to reduce
the amplitude, it is
called destructive
interference.
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Sound
 The speed of sound in a substance depends
on:
 the mass of its constituent atoms, and
 the strength of the forces between the atoms.

 The speed of sound is large when:

 the atoms have small mass — they’re easier
to move, and/or
 the forces between the atoms are larger — an
atom pushes harder on its neighbor.

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Sound, cont’d
 Typically we represent a sound wave as a
transverse wave (even though it is not).
 A region of compression is drawn as a crest.
 A region of expansion is drawn as a trough.

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Sound, cont’d
 A waveform of a sound
wave is a graph of the
air-pressure fluctuations
causes by the sound
wave versus time.
 A pure tone is a sound
with a sinusoidal
waveform.
 A complex wave is a
sound that is not pure.
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Sound, cont’d
 Noise is sound that has a random waveform.
 It does not have a definite wavelength or
period.
 Sound with frequencies below our audible
range is called infrasound.
 Below about 20 Hz.
 Sound with frequencies above our audible
range is called ultrasound.
 Above about 20,000 Hz.

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Production of sound
 Sound can be produced by:
 Causing a body to vibrate:
 e.g., plucking a string.
 Varying an air flow:
 e.g., buzzing your lips.
 Abrupt changes in an object’s temperature:
 e.g., a lightning flash creates thunder.
 By creating a shock wave:
 e.g., flying faster than the speed of sound.

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Perception of sound
 We have to be careful when we discuss
sound.
 There are physical properties we can
measure.
 But our ears do not just measure these
physical properties.
 We have to deal with the perception of the
sound.

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Perception of sound, cont’d
 Pitch is the perception of highness or
lowness of a sound.
 The pitch depends primarily on the frequency
of the sound.
 It also depends on the duration.
 A very short sound might sound like a click even
if it has a definite frequency.

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Perception of sound, cont’d
 Loudness is the perception of whether a
sound is easy to hear or painful to hear.
 It depends primarily on the amplitude of the
sound.
 It also depends on whether the sound is
played with other sounds (before, after,
concurrently, etc).
 It even depends on the frequency.
 Our ears are more sensitive to higher frequencies
and less sensitive to lower frequencies.

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Perception of sound, cont’d
 Our eardrums respond to sound pressure
level.
 A louder sound creates a larger compression,
i.e., higher pressure, than a quiet sound.
 We typically call the sound pressure level just
the sound level.
 It is measured in decibels (dB).
 0 dB corresponds to inaudible.
 Normal conversation is about 50 dB.
 ~120 dB starts causing pain.
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Perception of sound, cont’d
 The sound level of the quietest sound is
called the threshold of hearing.
 The sound level at which we start
experiencing pain is called the threshold of
pain.
 The minimum increase in sound level that is
noticeable is about 1 dB.
 For a sound to be judged as “twice as loud,”
the original sound must be increased by
10 dB.
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