Exercise Questions Page: 174

1. What is sound, and how is it produced?

Solution:

Sound is produced due to vibrations. When a body vibrates, it forces the adjacent
particles of the medium to vibrate. This results in a disturbance in the medium, which
travels as waves and reaches the ear. Hence, the sound is produced.

2. Describe, with the help of a diagram, how compressions and rarefactions are
produced in the air near a source of the sound.

Solution:

When the school bell is hit with a hammer, it moves forward and backwards, producing
compression and rarefaction due to vibrations. When it moves forward, it creates high
pressure in its surrounding area. This high-pressure region is known as compression.
When it moves backwards, it creates a low-pressure region in its surrounding. This
region is called rarefaction.

3. Cite an experiment to show that sound needs a material medium for its
propagation.

Solution:

Take an electric bell and hang it inside an empty bell jar which is fitted with a vacuum
pump (as shown in the figure below).
Initially, one can hear the sound of the ringing bell. Now, pump out some air from the
bell jar using the vacuum pump. You will realise that the sound of the ringing bell
decreases. If you keep on pumping the air out of the bell jar, then the glass jar will be
devoid of any air after some time. Now, try to ring the bell. No sound is heard, but you
can see the bell prong is still vibrating. When there is no air present in the bell jar, a
vacuum is produced. Sound cannot travel through a vacuum. Therefore, this experiment
shows that sound needs a material medium for its propagation.

4. Why is a sound wave called a longitudinal wave?

Solution:

The vibration of the medium that travels parallel to the direction of the wave or along in
the direction of the wave is called a longitudinal wave. The direction of particles of the
medium vibrates parallel to the direction of the propagation of disturbance. Therefore, a
sound wave is called a longitudinal wave.

5. Which characteristics of the sound help you to identify your friend by his voice
while sitting with others in a dark room?

Solution:

Quality of sound is a characteristic that helps us identify the voice of a particular person.
Two people may have the same pitch and loudness, but their qualities will be different.

6. Flash and thunder are produced simultaneously. But thunder is heard a few
seconds after the flash is seen. Why?
Solution:

The speed of sound is 344 m/s, whereas the speed of light is 3 × 108 m/s. The speed of
light is less when compared to that of light. Due to this reason, thunder takes more time
to reach the Earth as compared to light speed, which is faster. Hence, lightning is seen
before whenever we hear thunder.

7. A person has a hearing range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. What are the typical
wavelengths of sound waves in air corresponding to these two frequencies? Take
the speed of sound in air as 344 m s−1.

Solution:

For sound waves,

Speed = Wavelength × frequency

v=λ×v

Speed of sound wave in air = 344 m/s

(a) For v = 20 Hz

λ1 = v/v1 = 344/20 = 17.2 m

(b) For v2 = 20,000 Hz

λ2 = v/v2 = 344/20,000 = 0.0172 m

Therefore, for human beings, the hearing wavelength is in the range of 0.0172 m to 17.2
m.

8. Two children are at opposite ends of an aluminium rod. One strikes the end of
the rod with a stone. Find the ratio of times taken by the sound wave in the air
and in aluminium to reach the second child.

Solution:

Consider the length of the aluminium rod = d

Speed of sound wave at 25° C, V Al = 6420 ms-1

Time taken to reach the other end is,

T Al = d/ (V Al) = d/6420

Speed of sound in air, V air = 346 ms-1

Time taken by sound to each other end is,

T air = d/ (V air) = d/346

Therefore, the ratio of time taken by sound in aluminium and air is,

T air / t Al = 6420 / 346 = 18.55

9. The frequency of a source of sound is 100 Hz. How many times does it vibrate
in a minute?

Solution:

Frequency = (Number of oscillations) / Total time

Number of oscillations = Frequency × Total time

Given,

Frequency of sound = 100 Hz

Total time = 1 min (1 min = 60 s)

Number of oscillations or vibrations = 100 × 60 = 6000

The source vibrates 6000 times in a minute and produces a frequency of 100 Hz.

10. Does sound follow the same laws of reflection as light does? Explain.

Solution:

Yes. Sound follows the same laws of reflection as light. The reflected sound wave and
the incident sound wave make an equal angle with the normal to the surface at the point
of incidence. Also, the reflected sound wave, the normal to the point of incidence, and
the incident sound wave all lie in the same plane.
11. When a sound is reflected from a distant object, an echo is produced. Let the
distance between the reflecting surface and the source of sound production
remains the same. Do you hear an echo sound on a hotter day?

Solution:

An echo is heard when the time interval between the reflected sound and the original
sound is at least 0.1 seconds. As the temperature increases, the speed of sound in a
medium also increases. On a hotter day, the time interval between the reflected and
original sound will decrease, and an echo is audible only if the time interval between the
reflected sound and the original sound is greater than 0.1 s.

12. Give two practical applications of the reflection of sound waves.

Solution:

(i) Reflection of sound is used to measure the speed and distance of underwater
objects. This method is called SONAR.

(ii) Working of a stethoscope – The sound of a patient’s heartbeat reaches the doctor’s
ear through multiple reflections of sound.

13. A stone is dropped from the top of a tower 500 m high into a pond of water at
the base of the tower. When is the splash heard at the top? Given, g = 10 m
s−2 and speed of sound = 340 m s−1.

Solution:

Height (s) of tower = 500 m

Velocity (v) of sound = 340 m s−1

Acceleration (g) due to gravity = 10 m s−1

Initial velocity (u) of the stone = 0

Time (t1) taken by the stone to fall to the tower base:

As per the second equation of motion,

s= ut1 + (½) g (t1)2

500 = 0 x t1 + (½) 10 (t1)2

(t1)2 = 100

t1 = 10 s

Time (t2) taken by sound to reach the top from the tower base = 500/340 = 1.47 s

t = t1 + t2

t = 10 + 1.47

t = 11.47 s

14. A sound wave travels at a speed of 339 m s-1. If its wavelength is 1.5 cm, what
is the frequency of the wave? Will it be audible?

Solution:

Speed (v) of sound = 339 m s−1

Wavelength (λ) of sound = 1.5 cm = 0.015 m

Speed of sound = Wavelength × Frequency

v=v=λXv

v = v / λ = 339 / 0.015 = 22600 Hz

The frequency of audible sound for human beings lies between the ranges of 20 Hz to
20,000 Hz. The frequency of the given sound is more than 20,000 Hz; therefore, it is not
audible.

Page: 175
15. What is reverberation? How can it be reduced?

Solution:

The continuous multiple reflections of sound in a big enclosed space are reverberation.
It can be reduced by covering walls and ceilings of enclosed spaces with the help of
sound-absorbing materials, such as loose woollens and fibre boards.
16. What is the loudness of sound? What factors does it depend on?

Solution:

Loud sounds have high energy. Loudness directly depends on the amplitude of
vibrations. It is proportional to the square of the amplitude of vibrations of sound.

17. Explain how bats use ultrasound to catch prey.

Solution:

Bats have the ability to produce high-pitched ultrasonic squeaks. These squeaks get
reflected by objects, like prey, and return to their ears. This helps a bat to know how far
its prey is.

18. How is ultrasound used for cleaning?

Solution:

Objects that need to be cleansed are put in a cleaning solution, and ultrasonic sound
waves are passed through the solution. The high frequency of ultrasound waves helps
in detaching the dirt from the objects. In this way, ultrasound is used for cleaning
purposes.

19. Explain the working and application of a sonar.

Solution:

SONAR is an abbreviation for Sound Navigation and Ranging. It is an acoustic device

used in measuring the direction, speed, and depth of underwater objects, such as
shipwrecks and submarines, using ultrasound.

Also, it is used to determine the depth of oceans and seas.

A beam of ultrasonic sound is produced and travels through the seawater, which is
transmitted by the transducer. When it reflects, an echo is produced, which is detected
and recorded by the detector. It is then converted into electrical signals. The distance
represented by ‘d’ of the under-water object is calculated from the time (represented as
‘t’) taken by the echo to return with speed (represented as ‘v’) is expressed as,
2d = v × t

This method of measuring distance is also referred to as echo-ranging.

20. A sonar device on a submarine sends out a signal and receives an echo 5 s
later. Calculate the speed of sound in water if the distance of the object from the
submarine is 3625 m.

Solution:

Time (t) taken to hear the echo = 5 s

Distance (d) of an object from submarine = 3625 m

Total distance travelled by SONAR during reception and transmission in water = 2d

Velocity (v) of sound in water = 2d/t = (2 × 3625) / 5

= 1450 ms-1

21. Explain how defects in a metal block can be detected using ultrasound.

Solution:

Defective metal blocks will not allow ultrasound to pass through them and reflect it back.
This technique is used in detecting defects in metal blocks. Make a set-up as shown in
the figure, with ultrasound being passed through one end and detectors placed on the
other end of a metal block. Since the defective part of the metal block does not allow
ultrasound to pass through it, it will not be detected by the detector. In this way, defects
in metal blocks can be detected with the help of ultrasound.

22. Explain how the human ear works.

Solution:

Various sounds produced by particles in our surroundings are collected by pinna that
transfers these sounds to the eardrum through the ear canal. The eardrum begins to
vibrate back and forth briskly as soon as the sound waves fall on it. The vibrating
eardrum initiates the small bone hammer to vibrate. These vibrations are passed from
the hammer to the third bone stirrup via the second bone anvil. The stirrup strikes the
membrane of the oval window to pass its vibration to the cochlea. The liquid in the
cochlea produces electrical impulses in the nerve cells. These electrical impulses are
carried to the brain by the auditory nerve. They are interpreted by the brain as sound,
and hence, we get a sensation of hearing.