SOUND

1. How sound is produced?

Answer: Sound is produced by the vibration of vibrating object.
2. What do you understand by a wave?
Answer: A periodic disturbance created in material medium that transfer sound and light
energy is called wave.
3.

Write the difference between sound and light waves.

Answer: Sound wave is mechanical wave that require material medium for propagation
where as light waves are electromagnetic wave that can travel in vacuum.

4. What do you understand by sound energy cannot be produced?

Answer: Sound energy cannot be produced on its own. Some mechanical energy is required
to make an object vibrate. It is the mechanical energy of the vibrating object which travels
through a medium and ultimately reaches the ear.
5. What is the name of the wave that can travel through vacuum?
Answer: Electromagnetic wave
6. Explain by some experiment that sound waves require medium for their propagation.
Answer: An electric bell is suspended inside an airtight glass bell jar connected to a vacuum
pump. As the electric bell circuit is completed, the sound is heard. Now if the air is slowly
removed from the bell jar by using a vacuum pump, the intensity of sound goes on
decreasing and finally no sound is heard when all the air is drawn out. We would be seeing
the hammer striking the gong repeatedly. This clearly proves that sound requires a material
for its propagation.
7. How sound waves travel through some medium?
Answer: Sound waves work travel through some medium by passing vibrations from
molecule to molecule. If there is no medium, then there no molecules to pass vibrations.
8. Why sound waves do not propagate through vacuum?
Answer: If there is no medium, then there no molecules to pass vibrations.
9. What are the transverse waves? Give two examples.
Answer: Transverse waves: A wave in which the particles of the medium vibrate at right
angles to the direction, in which the wave is moving, is called transverse wave. Example:
Light waves.
10.What are longitudinal waves? Give two examples.
Answer: Longitudinal waves: A wave in which the particles of the medium vibrate back and
forth in the same direction in which the wave is moving is called longitudinal wave. Example:
sound waves.
11.Give two points of difference between longitudinal and transverse waves.
Answer: Differences between the transverse wave and longitudinal wave:Transverse wave:(1)A transverse wave is a wave in which variation of the amplitude of a wave is
perpendicular to the direction of propagation of wave.
(2) Light wave, wave in string, wave developed in water etc.
Longitudinal wave:(1)A longitudinal wave is a wave in which variation of the amplitude of wave is in the
direction of the propagation of wave.
(2) Sound wave, oscillation in the spring.
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(3) In spring wave elongation or compression occurs along the direction of motion of the
wave.
(4) It cannot propagate in the vacuum.
12.What are rarefaction and compression in case of sound waves?
Answer: Compressions: Areas in the wave where the air molecules are pushed close
together and so at a slightly higher pressure.
Rarefaction: Areas in the wave where the air molecules are further apart and so at a slightly
lower pressure.
13.Distinguish between crests and troughs.
Answer: The highest point of a wave is known as its crest while the trough is the lowest
point of the wave. Wavelength is the horizontal distance between successive crests or
troughs.
14.Write the SI unit of velocity of a wave.
Answer: m/s
15.Why is a thundering sound heard later than lightening?
Answer: This because the speed of sound is much lesser than that of light.
16.Sound travels with different speeds in different media. Comment.
Answer: Sound waves need to travel through a medium such as a solid, liquid, or gas. The
sound waves move through each of these mediums by vibrating the molecules in the matter.
The molecules in solids are packed very tightly. Liquids are not packed as tightly as solids.
And gases are very loosely packed. The spacing of the molecules enables sound to travel
much faster through a solid than a gas. Sound travels about four times faster and farther in
water than it does in air. This is why whales can communicate over huge distances in the
oceans. Sound waves travel about thirteen times faster in wood than air. They also travel
faster on hotter days as the molecules bump into each other more often than when it is cold.
17.How far are a compression and its nearest rarefaction in a longitudinal wave?

Answer:

Wavelengt h
2

18.Define sound ranging.

Answer: The method of the determination of the location of a source of sound waves by
measuring the time lapse between their transmission and their reception.
19.What is the frequency range of sound for human beings?
Answer: 20Hz to 20000Hz
20.What are the ultrasonic and supersonic waves?
Answer: Ultrasonic waves refer to sound of frequencies greater than those that can be
heard (usually frequencies above 20 kHz).
Supersonic refers to sound of velocities faster than the speed of sound (in
the medium under consideration).
21.What types of waves are produced by animals like bats and dolphins?
Answer: Ultrasound above 20000Hz
22.Explain two applications of ultra sound waves?
Answer: Ultrasound is a wave with frequency greater than the upper limit of human
hearing. These waves travel along well -defined paths and can even penetrate obstacles.
Some important applications of ultrasound are:
a. It is used for medical diagnosis and therapy and also to clean parts located in hard-toreach places, for example, spiral tube, electronic components etc.
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b. Ultrasound is used to detect cracks and flaws in metal blocks. Such as aeroplane wings
can be checked for cracks that would be invisible on the surface.
c. Its use in scanning goes far beyond pregnancies. Many other parts of the body are
analysed using it (bladder gallstones, the heart, etc.)
d. Detection of developmental/ structural abnormalities in the fetus. Evaluation of the heart
and diagnosis of cardiac problems. This technique is called Echocardiography.
23.Ultrasound is also used to break small stones formed in the kidneys into fine grains.25.
Explain how ultrasound waves are used to detect a flaw in an object?
Answer: The ultrasound waves are allowed to pass through metal block to which are
fitteddetectors to detect the waves. Ultrasounds can be used to detect minor cracks or flaws
in metal block. For this, ultrasonic waves are allowed to pass through metal blocks
anddetectors are used to detect the transmitted waves. If there is a crack in metal block,
these waves get reflected back, thus indicating the presence of defects or flaws like cracks in
the metal block.
24. Which sound wave is used in ECG (echocardiography)? Answer: ultra sound wave
25.Give the full form of SONAR.
Answer: SONAR: Sound Navigation And Ranging
26. Name the technique used to measure the depth of a sea.
Answer: Sound ranging
27.How will you determine the depth of a sea using SONAR?
Answer: SONAR is an acronym for Sound Navigation And Ranging. It is an acoustic device
used to measure the depth, direction, and speed of under-water objects such as submarines
and ship wrecks with the help of ultrasounds. It is also used to measure the depth of seas
and oceans.

A beam of ultrasonic sound is produced and transmitted by the transducer (it is a device
that produces ultrasonic sound) of the SONAR, which travels through sea water. The echo
produced by the reflection of this ultrasonic sound is detected and recorded by the detector,
which is converted into electrical signals.
The distance ( d ) of the under-water object is calculated from the time ( t ) taken by the
echo to return with speed ( v ) is given by 2d = v t .
This method of measuring distance is also known as echo-ranging.
28.How do the bats fly in dark?
Answer: Bats fly in the darkness of night without colliding with other objects by this method
called echolocation. Bats emit high-frequency ultrasonic squeaks while flying & listen to the
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echoes produced by the reflection of their squeaks from the objects (or obstacles) in their
path. From the time taken by the echo to be heard, bats can judge the distance of the object
(or obstacle) in their path and hence avoid it by changing the direction.
Notes: Bats search their prey at night by this method only. This happens as follows: Bats
emit high-frequency ultrasonic squeaks while flying & listen to the echoes produced by the
reflection of their squeaks from the prey like a flying insect. From the time taken by the echo
to be heard, bats can judge the distance of the insect & hence can catch it.
29.How RADAR is different from SONAR?
Answer: SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging) uses sound wave which is mechanical
energy to "look" through water or other media, and RADAR (Radio Direction and Ranging)
uses electromagnetic radiation(radio waves) to "look" through the air or other media.
RADAR signals are mostly used for ground or atmospheric observations whereas SONAR
signals are ideal for navigation and measurement under water.
30.Explain the function of ear by explaining its each part?
Answer: The outer ear is called pinna collects the sound from the surroundings. The collected
sound passes through the auditory canal. At the end of the auditory canal there is a thin
membrane called the ear drum or tympanic membrane. When a compression of the medium
reaches the eardrum the pressure on the outside of the membrane increases and forces the
eardrum inward. Similarly, the eardrum moves outward when a rarefaction reaches it. In this
way the eardrum vibrates. The vibrations are amplified several times by three bones (the
hammer, anvil and stirrup) in the middle ear. The middle ear transmits the amplified pressure
variations received from the sound wave to the inner ear. In the inner ear, the pressure
variations are turned into electrical signals by the cochlea. These electrical signals are sent to
the brain via the auditory nerve, and the brain interprets them as sound.
Note: The stirrup bone of the middle ear is the smallest bone in human body.
31.Distinguish between loudness and intensity of sound.
Answer: Intensity depends on the energy per unit area of the wave and it is independent of
the response of the ear, but the loudness depends on energy as well as on the response of the
ear.
32.Why are ceilings of concert halls curved?
Answer: The ceilings of concert hall are curved, so that sound after reflection from it reaches
all the corners of the hall, and hence, is audible to everyone in the hall.
33. The frequency of a source of sound is 100 Hz. How many times does it vibrate in a minute?
Answer: Number of vibrations produced in 1 second = 100
Number of vibrations produced in 1 minute (60 s) = 100 60 = 6000.
34.Give two practical applications of the reflection of sound waves.
Answer:
(i) In stethoscope the sound of patients heartbeat reaches the doctors ears by multiple
reflections in the tubes.
(ii) Megaphones are designed to send sound waves in particular direction are based on
the reflection of sound.
35. Why longitudinal waves are called pressure waves?
Answer: Sound waves travel in the form of compression and rarefactions, which involve
change in pressure, and volume of the air. Thus they are called pressure waves.
36. What are harmonics?
Answer: harmonics are notes of frequency which integral multiple of the fundamental
frequency produced by a device. For e.g. third harmonic is 3 times the fundamental frequency.
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37.What are fundamental note and overtones?

Answer: When a sound is produced, there are tones of different frequencies. The tone of
lowest frequency is called fundamental note and the tones of higher frequency are called
overtones.
38.Sound travels faster on a rainy day than on a dry day. Why?
Answer: Sound travels faster on rainy day because the velocity of sound increases with
increase in humidity. On rainy day humidity is more thus velocity of sound is also more.
39. Why are the window panes of houses sometimes cracked when a bomb explodes even at
large distance?
Answer: The windows break because of the generation of shock waves in the explosion.
40. If the tension in the wire is increased four times how will the velocity of wave in a string
varies?
Answer: velocity of the wave in string is directly proportional to the square root of the tension
thus if tension is increased 4 times the velocity will be doubled.

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