Chapter 17: Sound Waves

From Textbook “Physics for Scientists and Engineers (with Modern Physics)”,
PHYV101 Slides by Dr. David Waswa Serway & Jewett, Thomson Brooks/Cole Publishers 1
After this section you should be able to...
a) State an expression for the velocity of sound waves
b) Define:
i. displacement amplitude
ii. pressure amplitude
iii. intensity of a sound wave
c) Derive an expression for the pressure amplitude associated with a
longitudinal wave
d) Derive an expression for the intensity of a sound wave
e) Derive expressions for the frequency observed in the case for the Doppler
effect for:
i. moving observer, stationary source
ii. stationary observer, moving source
f) Define the mach number
g) Solve problems on the above
 Introduction to Sound Waves

✓Sound waves are longitudinal waves

✓They travel through any material medium
✓The speed of the wave depends on the properties of the medium
✓The mathematical description of sinusoidal sound waves is very
similar to sinusoidal waves on a string

Categories of Sound Waves

✓The categories cover different frequency ranges
✓Audible waves are within the sensitivity of the human ear
➢Range is approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz
✓Infrasonic waves have frequencies below the audible range
(Geological waves)
✓Ultrasonic waves have frequencies above the audible range
▶ Use a compressible gas as an example with a
setup as shown at right
▶ Before the piston is moved, the gas has uniform
density (fig. (a))
▶ When the piston is suddenly moved to the right,
the gas just in front of it is compressed (fig. (b))
➢ Darker region in the diagram
▶ When the piston comes to rest, the compression
region of the gas continues to move (fig. (c))
➢ This corresponds to a longitudinal pulse
traveling through the tube with speed v
➢ The speed of the piston is not the same as the
speed of the wave
❖ The speed of sound waves in a medium depends on the compressibility and
the density of the medium
❖ The compressibility can sometimes be expressed in terms of the elastic
modulus of the material

❖ The speed of all mechanical waves follows a Elsatic property

v=
general form: Inertial property

Speed of Sound in Liquid or Gas ➢The bulk modulus of the material is B

B ➢The density of the material is r
v=
ρ
Speed of Sound in a Y ➢The Young modulus of the material is Y
v=
Solid Rod ρ ➢The density of the material is ρ

𝑇𝐶
Speed of Sound in Air v = 331𝑚/𝑠 1+
273𝑜 𝐾

➢The speed of sound also depends on the temperature of the medium

➢This is particularly important with gases
➢The 331 m/s is the speed at 0o C
➢TC is the air temperature in Celsius
 Periodic Sound Waves

☞A compression moves through a material as a

pulse, continuously compressing the material just in
front of it
☞The areas of compression alternate with areas of
lower pressure and density called rarefactions
☞These two regions move with the speed equal to the
speed of sound in the medium
☞As the regions travel through the tube, any small
element of the medium moves with simple harmonic
motion parallel to the direction of the wave
The position of a small element in a gas is expressed by a harmonic
position function as
𝑠 𝑥, 𝑡 = 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 cos 𝑘𝑥 − 𝜔𝑡
❖smax is the maximum position from the equilibrium position
❖This is also called the displacement amplitude of the wave

Displacement of the element is along x, in the direction of propagation of

the sound wave
Variation in the gas pressure ∆P due to sound wave
We want to relate the pressure amplitude Pmax to the
displacement amplitude smax
Consider a small cylindrical element of undisturbed gas
of length ∆x and area A as shown in figure 17.3a
The volume of the element is 𝑉𝑖 = 𝐴∆𝑥

If the sound wave moves the element of a gas from

position s1 to s2 (∆𝑠), then change in volume is given by
∆𝑉 = 𝐴∆𝑠
Using the principle of bulk modulus, we express the pressure variation in
the element of gas as a function of its change in volume:
∆V
∆𝑃 = −𝐵 Remember: 𝑉𝑖 = 𝐴∆𝑥, ∆𝑉 = 𝐴∆𝑠
𝑉𝑖

𝐴∆s
Change in pressure in terms of distance is given by: ∆𝑃 = −𝐵
𝐴∆x

Let the length ∆x of the cylinder approach zero so that the ratio ∆s/ ∆x
becomes a partial derivative: ∂s
∆𝑃 = −𝐵
𝜕x
Given the position function is : 𝑠 𝑥, 𝑡 = 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 cos 𝑘𝑥 − 𝜔𝑡
∂
∆𝑃 = −𝐵 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 cos 𝑘𝑥 − 𝜔𝑡 = −𝐵𝑘𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 sin 𝑘𝑥 − 𝜔𝑡
𝜕x
 ∂
∆𝑃 = −𝐵 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 cos 𝑘𝑥 − 𝜔𝑡 = −𝐵𝑘𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 sin 𝑘𝑥 − 𝜔𝑡
𝜕x

∆𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝐵𝑘𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥

B 2
ω
v= , ⟹ 𝐵 = 𝜌𝑣 k=
Remember ρ 𝑣

2 ω
∆𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝜌𝑣 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝜌𝑣ω 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑣

Therefore, change in pressure at position x and time, t is given by,

∆P = 𝜌𝑣ω𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 sin 𝑘𝑥 − ω𝑡
➢The variation in the gas pressure ∆𝑃 measured from
the equilibrium value is also periodic with the same
wave number and angular frequency as for the dis-
placement

➢Note that the pressure wave is 90 degrees out of

phase with the displacement wave.

➢The pressure variation is a maximum when the

displacement from equilibrium is zero (and visa-
versa)
The rate at which the piston is doing work on the element at any instant
of time is given by:
Remember F =A∆P

∆P = 𝜌𝑣ω𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 sin 𝑘𝑥 − ω𝑡
We now find the time average power over one period of the oscillation.

The average power ever one period T and at x=0 is thus:

Therefore
We define the intensity I of a wave, or the power per unit area, as the rate at which
the energy transported by the wave transfers through a unit area A perpendicular to
the direction of travel of the wave:

Thus

But ∆𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝜌𝑣ω 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥

Therefore
 Spherical Waves
♜A point source emitting sound waves equally in all
directions
♜ Sound power radiated in all directions and the speed of
sound in all directions is the same. Forms spherical
wave
♜Each arc represents a surface over which the phase of
the wave is constant
♜We call such a surface of constant phase a wave front

♜The average power emitted is distributed uniformly over

each spherical wave front of area 4π𝑟 2 . Hence, the
wave intensity at a distance r

The intensity decreases as the square of the distance from the source.
 Speed of sound waves in air = 343 m/s
Find the amplitude of the pressure variation at the threshold of
hearing

Calculate the corresponding maximum displacement amplitude

The loudest sounds the human ear can tolerate (the threshold of pain) correspond
to: ∆𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 28.7 N/m2 , 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1.11 𝑥 10−5 𝑚.
A point source emits energy in the form of spherical waves
Table 17.2 illustrates the wide range of intensities the human ear can detect.

∆𝑃𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 2.87 𝑥 10−5 N/m2 ∆𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 28.7 N/m2

𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 1.11 𝑥 10−11 𝑚. 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1.11 𝑥 10−5 𝑚.

Because this range is so wide, it is convenient to use

a logarithmic scale, where the sound level 𝛽 (Greek
letter beta) is defined by the equation
 Minimum intensity of sound to an ear is 1 x 10-12 W/m2
Calculate the sound level when one machine is operating:

Calculate the sound level with double intensity:

These results show that when the intensity is doubled, the sound level
increases by only 3 dB.
The frequency of the sound you hear as the vehicle approaches you is higher
than the frequency you hear as it moves away from you. This experience is one
example of the Doppler effect.

Define:
The Doppler effect is the apparent change in frequency (or wavelength)
that occurs because of motion of the source or observer of a wave

✒When the relative speed of the source and observer is higher than the
speed of the wave, the frequency appears to increase

✒When the relative speed of the source and observer is lower than the
speed of the wave, the frequency appears to decrease
 Doppler shift in sound
O: Observer (man) S:
Source (siren)
𝜆: Wavelength of sound in air
𝜆′ : Relative wavelength of
sound
v : Speed of sound in air
(source moving away
(source moving
from observer)
towards observer)
𝑣𝑠
′
𝜆 = 𝜆 + ∆𝜆 = 𝜆 + ′
𝑣𝑠
𝑓 𝜆 = 𝜆 − ∆𝜆 = 𝜆 −
𝑓
′
𝑣 𝑣 𝑣 ′
𝑣 𝑣 𝑣
𝑓 = ′= 𝑣 =𝑣 𝑣 𝑓 = ′ = 𝑣 =𝑣 𝑣
𝜆 𝜆+ 𝑠 + 𝑠 𝜆′ 𝜆− 𝑠 − 𝑠
𝑓 𝑓 𝑓 𝑓 𝑓 𝑓

𝑣 𝑣
𝑓 = ′
𝑣+𝑣𝑠
𝑓 , f reduces ′
𝑓 = 𝑣−𝑣𝑠
𝑓 , f increases
A similar analysis can be carried out for moving observer, stationary source (do
this yourself) to yield:
𝑣−𝑣𝑜
′
𝑓 = 𝑣
𝑓, (Observer moving away from source )
𝑣+𝑣𝑜
′
𝑓 = 𝑣
𝑓, (Observer moving towards source )

′
𝑣𝑠 𝑣 𝑣𝑠
Both source and observer moving 𝜆 = 𝜆 − ∆𝜆 = 𝜆 − = −
𝑓 𝑓 𝑓
′
𝑣 − 𝑣𝑠
⟹𝜆 =
When the source moves towards observer 𝑓

′
𝑣𝑠 𝑣 𝑣𝑠
𝜆 = 𝜆 + ∆𝜆 = 𝜆 + = +
𝑓 𝑓 𝑓
When the observer moves towards source ′
𝑣 + 𝑣𝑠
⟹𝜆 =
𝑓
 ′
′
𝑣 𝑣 ± 𝑣𝑜 𝑣 = 343 𝑚/𝑠
𝑓 = ′=
𝜆 𝑣 ± 𝑣𝑠
𝑓

′
𝑣 ± 𝑣𝑜
𝑓 = 𝑓
𝑣 ± 𝑣𝑠

𝑣 ± 𝑣𝑜
′
If the source is stationary, 𝑣𝑠 = 𝑜 𝑚/𝑠 𝑓 = 𝑓
𝑣

𝑣
If the observer is stationary, 𝑣𝑜 = 𝑜 𝑚/𝑠 ′
𝑓 = 𝑓
𝑣 ± 𝑣𝑠
The speed of the source of sound is expressed as the velocity of the clock before
it strikes the ground and is given as,
−𝑣𝑠 = 𝑢𝑠 − 𝑔𝑡 = 0 − gt
The time at which the clock radio strikes the ground is
1 1 2𝑦
-y= 𝑢𝑠 𝑡 − 2 𝑔𝑡 2 . y = 2 𝑔𝑡 2 t= 𝑔

2𝑦
𝑣𝑠 = gt = g = 2𝑔𝑦 = 17.15𝑚/𝑠
𝑔
The source is moving away from the observer then frequency is given by
′
𝑣 343
𝑓 = 𝑓= 𝑥600 = 571.42 Hz
𝑣 + 𝑣𝑠 343 + 17.15
Now consider what happens
when the speed vS of a source
exceeds the wave speed v
At the time t, the wave front
centred at s0 reaches a radius of
vt.
In this same time interval, the
source travels a distance vst.
Therefore, the envelope of these wave fronts is a cone whose apex half-angle 𝜃
(the “Mach angle”) is given by

The ratio vS/v is referred to as the Mach number, and the conical wave front
produced when vS > v (supersonic speeds) is known as a shock wave.