Sound Definition and 1000 Threads

  1. elementHTTP

    Two atoms and speed of sound ?

    How fast is speed of signal between 2 atoms ? Is it speed of light in electric field and then it slows down to speed of sound at more massive nucleus (p=mv) ?
  2. T

    Sound Channeling Material? Polymer or Other?

    Hey Guys, Been a while since my last visit, as I've been away for a well earnt break.. But recently I've been set a challenge and its baffling me some what, and i wonder if anyone can help pleaseeee:biggrin: Basically long and short of it, a Car Manufacturer has been struggling in...
  3. C

    Finding plane distance from ground, with only a sound recorder and a stopwatch

    Hey! :smile: Was discussing with my friends back then about the interesting usage of physics in daily life when we suddenly had some interesting ideas that would be exciting to experiment on. One of the ideas we had was to calculate the distance and velocity of a flying airplane without...
  4. X

    Frequency of the sound of scratching Nails on Chalkboard

    In order to get my question , first read this please, So it means that when the sound is produced from nails on the chalkboard, the frequency range of this sound is between 2,000HZ to 4,000HZ with the amplitude of the sound is mostly a noise ? and human ears are designed to amplify this range...
  5. R

    Travel Sound Wave: Determine Wavelength, Frequency, etc.

    Homework Statement A traveling sound wave is represented by D(x,t)=0.48sin(5.6x+84t) with D in meter and t in seconds. Determine wavelength, frequency, amplitude, velocity (including direction) and the maximum speed of the vibrating air. Homework Equations Okay, I'm quite confused about...
  6. P

    Answer Checking (Speed of Sound formula, dimensional analysis)

    Homework Statement One formula for measuring the speed of sound in air is: v=\sqrt\frac{kTg}{m} v=velocity T=temperature g=dimensionless constant m=average mass of an air molecule If all units are SI, what are the units of k? The Attempt at a Solution I've done a lot of...
  7. L

    What affects the speed of sound - does viscosity?

    What factors affect the speed of sound besides the temperature? Does viscosity affect the speed of sound? Thanks
  8. L

    Speed of sound - why does adding ethanol to water increase the speed of sound

    If you have a tank of water then the speed of sound is 1482 m/s. If you add ethanol, the speed of sound increases. This seems to be pretty linear with the % concentration of ethanol. why does ethanol (or propanol) increase the speed of sound? thanks
  9. L

    Practical question re sound waves

    Hi - I am a lay person with a practical question regarding sound. I live near a busy street and am considering having noise-reducing windows installed. The noise-reducing windows would fit beside (and in addition to) the current window to block out street noise, so in effect there would be two...
  10. T

    Calculating Height of Building w/ Sound Speed

    Hello, I'm calculating a physics problem and I'm supposed to calculate the height of a building given that: rock is dropped from the building, the sound of the rock hitting the ground is heard 4.8s later, the speed of sound is 350m/s, and I don't know how do I calculate the time since...
  11. A

    Visualising Sound: Wavelength, Frequency & Amplitude

    If you visualise in terms of what it actually is (colliding molecules), what would the wavelength, frequency and amplitude be? I think for amplitude the molecules are hitting each other harder, but wouldn't that mean they're moving faster as well?
  12. P

    Waves, pulses, sound and things of that nature

    Homework Statement http://insight.ccsf.edu/file.php/4599/PDF/Exam1-Fall-2011.pdf Homework Equations v^2=T/μ κλ=2∏ ω=2f and many more The Attempt at a Solution Starting with 1a the λ is 4/3*.015cm=.02cm since by the diagram the distance between the labeled point is 3/4 the...
  13. K

    Doppler effect and multiple independant sound sources.

    If I am stationary and a sound source moves towards me at a constant velocity, I will hear it (the sound) increase in frequency until it is adjacent to me and then as it moves away from me, I will hear a decreasing frequency. Fundamental stuff right? It works with radio waves and light which is...
  14. D

    Calculating Water Depth Using Sound Waves

    Homework Statement a submarines sends sound waves and receives it after 4 seconds then goes under water 700 m and sends waves and receives it after 3 seconds he wants the depth of water Homework Equations V=d/t The Attempt at a Solution V=d/t V=x/2 then V=X-700/1.5 so x/2 =...
  15. N

    What is the Frequency of the Sound Wave Produced by a Vibrating Guitar String?

    Homework Statement One of the 63.5-cm-long strings of an ordinary guitar is tuned to produce the note B3 (frequency 245 Hz) when vibrating in its fundamental mode. A) Find the speed of transverse waves on this string. B) If the tension in this string is increased by 1.0%, what will be...
  16. K

    Getting a new sound card, is it worth the upgrade?

    I am thinking about upgrading my soundcard from the creative soundblaster fatality X-Fi to the new creative SB fatality X-Fi Recon-3D. Is this upgrade worth the money? Will I notice an improvement in sound quality? What is the benefit of a quad-core audio processor? How is the X-Fi Recon-3D...
  17. I

    Measurement of the Speed of sound

    Hai, I have a material related question. I am working with polymeric materials (Poly carbonate's and PMMA's respectively) which have to be tested for impact resistance (at high velocities). It came to my mind if the impact process could be correlated to a sound based measurement. Now i want...
  18. D

    Sound wave interference destructive interference problem?

    Homework Statement Two identical loud speakers placed at A and B 2m apart produce sound waves of frequency 440 HZ and with a velocity 320 m/sec a small microphone was used and placed at C along a perpendicular line from AB if there will be a destructive interference at C find the length of...
  19. D

    Why does current travel at speed of light rather than speed of sound?

    Here's how I understand the situation: when an electrical current is running through a wire, the individual electrons are moving very slowly. The reason that a light bulb turns on so quickly after the switch is closed, then, is because as the electrons near the switch start moving, they push on...
  20. A

    Why does tap water make sound?

    When water is flowing out of the tap, there is a buzzing/hissing sound. I can hear One sound coming immediately out of the tap and the other sound when water hits the ground. What are the reasons for these different sounds. Can someone explain to me in layman terms. Thanks.
  21. T

    How Do You Calculate the Sound Intensity of Each Singer in a Choir?

    Homework Statement A choir made up by 100 voices (i.e. 100 singers), during the execution of a song, reaches the sound intensity of 100dB. Assuming that all singers sang with the same intensity, the sound intensity of each singer was...? Homework Equations ΔS=10.log(I/Io) The...
  22. R

    Paper on colleration between air and sound

    I am not sure if this is wright section for this question,so please excuse me if a made a mistake. I am thinking of witing a paper about air as a meaning of sound transfer.Does humidity,temperature etc.influence sound.It should consist experiments and theory.So could you recommend me good book...
  23. K

    Find sound wavelength from a vibrating string

    Homework Statement Sound Wavelength From String During a concert a pianist hits a key that sets up a standing wave in a piano string that is vibrating in its fundamental mode. The string is 0.5 m long, has a mass density of 0.002 kg/m and is held under a tension of 120 N. What is the wavelength...
  24. A

    What Would Happen If a High Mass Object Hit a Wall at High Velocity Near Me?

    If an object of VERY high mass were to hit a hypothetical wall at a high velocity and the wall somehow withstood that, what would happen to you if you were standing on the other side close to the wall but not touching it? Would there be some sort of wave transmitted through it? If so, would this...
  25. I

    Understanding Sound Propagation in Liquids: Longitudinal and Transverse Waves

    Why sound waves propagate through liquids as longitudinal waves, and it is propagate on the surface of the liquid as transverse waves?
  26. A

    Fourier Analysis of Real Sound Waves

    If a basic sin sound wave is analysed with a Fourier transform, the result is just a spike at a certain frequency. My maths isn't the best so bare with me... if we take a real sound file and take Fourier transforms at regular intervals (I assume that's what's being done when calculating a...
  27. E

    Frequency of Sound and Light waves

    Sorry for another dumb question. Thank you in advance. What factors effect the frequency of sound and light waves. Light waves are effected by electromagnetic energy and given by (f=E/h) right? What about sound waves? Also, to make sure, even though ultraviolet light has much more...
  28. T

    Sound waves through air column

    hello guys, I'm having problems understanding why if we were to have a tuning fork that vibrates at a particular natural frequency, it will resonate at many different lengths of air column (which means different natural frequency of air column). Does this mean that the natural frequency of the...
  29. A

    How can sound distance be calculated without triangulation?

    I have two different sound sources (suppose two different person's voice playing in different volume). How to find which sound coming from further distance. What is the exact equation to calculate distance.
  30. S

    What Is the Period of Regular Fading in a Car Between Two Sound Sources?

    Homework Statement A car is driven at 30m/s between two sources, each producing sound waves of 1.50x10^6 Hz. The sound heard by driver rises and fades as he travels from one sound source to the other. Find the period of regular fading. Homework Equations No relevant equations...
  31. A

    Acoustics: Directing Sound Waves

    Hey, I'm just curious if anyone has designed a device that can direct and concentrate sound waves like a parabolic mirror? Since both sound and light are waves, I assume there must be a shape that allows one to "target sound" much like using a magnifying glass to focus light. On a related...
  32. D

    Why are the products of sound wave lengths and frequencies always constant?

    Hi everyone! I was reading a textbook a while ago about waves and it had just finished talking about wave speeds and how it is the product of the frequency times the wave length. On the next page, it gave a table of frequencies and wave lengths of sound waves and how their products are all...
  33. R

    Sound intensity, given frequencies

    Homework Statement The intensity of a sound wave at a fixed dis- tance from a speaker vibrating at 1.31 kHz is 0.894 W/m^2. Determine the intensity if the frequency is increased to 2.33 kHz while a constant dis- placement amplitude is maintained. Answer in units of W/m^2 Homework...
  34. L

    Speed of sound in water at 16 degrees celsius

    Homework Statement How do you calculate the speed of sound in water at 16 degrees celsius? Homework Equations Speed at 20 degrees is 1482m/s The Attempt at a Solution I need help getting started... I don't know how to go about trying to work this out (this isn't a homework...
  35. E

    Speed of Sound and Moving Vehicles

    When an object is thrown out from the front of a vehicle, its initial velocity relative to the ground is the velocity relative to the vehicle plus the velocity of the vehicle. Why is this not the case with sound traveling out from the front of a jet for instance? Or do the velocities add...
  36. D

    Why Are Sound Waves Invisible to the Human Eye?

    Why can't we see sound waves?
  37. F

    Effect of Humidity and Density on Speed of sound

    Hi, I've been trying to look up the effects of density and humidity on the speed of sound, and I've been finding conflicting results. Some websites have stated that increased humidity will increase the speed of sound because of decreased density in the air, but wikipedia's speed of sound article...
  38. A

    Constructive Interference of Sound waves

    Homework Statement A pair of speakers connected to the same signal generator face each other, one at x=0 and the other at x=1.5m. If they are producing a sound frequency of 2000Hz what are the points (position x) of constructive interference between the speakers? Express your answer in...
  39. R

    Can Sound Sources on a Straight Road Cause Interference Effects?

    Homework Statement Consider two sources of sound, each of which emits a sound wave of the SAME frequency and the SAME intensity. The sources are located on a straight and level road, relatively close to each other. You, the listener, are also located on this road, about 1/4 mile away from the...
  40. S

    Convert Extreme sound into usable energy

    Our backyard backs up to a major freeway u need hear protection to stand at the back gate for to long we r less then 20 feet from the edge of the road id like to turn this extreme noise into usable energy... is there anyway to convert it into electricity or use some kind of aperatise to convert...
  41. A

    Speed of sound and density relation?

    Speed of sound at a specific temperature is independent of Pressure as Pressure varies directly with density. So wouldn't any change in density vary the pressure such that it has no net effect on speed of sound? but my book says the speed increases with decrease in density...
  42. A

    What note does a listener hear when a singer gulps helium and sings middle C?

    Homework Statement Singer sings middle C. She then gulps helium and tries to sing the same note i.e her vocal chords remain the same. What note will the listener hear? Homework Equations f=velocity of air/lambda middle C The Attempt at a Solution f=velocity of air/lambda...
  43. G

    Why Does Sound Vary with Humidity, Not Pressure?

    Why doesn't Sound depend on pressure while depends on Humidity ?
  44. R

    Fourier series, applications to sound

    Homework Statement The Attempt at a Solution I don't understand where that 2 comes from in the denominator in cos nπ/2
  45. Barnak

    Ultra-Relativistic sound speed problem

    I'm trying to understand how to use the special relativistic sound formula for a perfect fluid : c_s = c \, \sqrt{\frac{dp}{d\rho}}, where p is the isotropic pressure and \rho is the total energy density (not the internal energy density \rho_{int} or mass density \rho_{mass}). In the case of...
  46. T

    Directionality of sound vs. frequency

    Why do low frequency sounds (like low bass notes) disperse omni-directionally, whereas high frequency sounds are much more directional? Also is there a formula that governs this?
  47. R

    How can a nucleus make a sound?

    This is from Paul Davies the Last Three Minutes I thought sound is due to particles moving up and down which activate hairs inside our ear which our immaterial, nonphysical, unconscious mind converts into meaning and communicates that meaning to the conscious mind. I don't see how the...
  48. R

    Calculating Effective Sound Power from Cube Gap

    effective sound power from cube if there was a sound source that radiates equally in all directions in a cube enclosure, and the cube was completely absorbative, how would you tell how much sound is coming out of a small gap in one of the walls and find the effective sound power of the cube...
  49. R

    The Quietest Sound Possible & The Quietest Sound Ever Recorded/Measured

    Apparently, there is a limit to the maximum sound amplitude that depends on the medium in which the sound in question travels. In the atmosphere, the limit is supposedly around 194 Db, arising from the fact that in sound above this level, the pressure throughs would exceed atmospheric pressure...
  50. S

    Calculating Polly's Flight Speed and Sound Power for Breaking Glass

    Polly the parrot wants to escape from her enclosure at the zoo. The enclosure has a glass door and by tapping on the door with her beak Polly has been able to determine that the natural resonant frequency of the door is 900 Hz. The highest frequency squawk Polly can muster is 850 Hz but at one...
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