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P4b - Equation Practice

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221 views

P4b - Equation Practice

Uploaded by

Yasein Almatos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CP4b.

2 Equation practice

You will be expected to recall the equation linking wave speed, distance and time in your examination, and
also the one linking speed, frequency and wavelength. You will need to choose the correct equation to
answer the question and you should also be able to change the subject of the equations and to use the
correct units.

The table on the right shows how far some different waves Wave speed Distance Time
travel in different times. (m/s) (m) (s)
Use the equation relating wave speed, distance and time
to calculate the missing numbers in the table. a 2000 6
Sound travels at approximately 1500 m/s in water. b 50 0.5
a How long will it take a whale song to travel 100 km? c 5000 4
(Hint: remember to change the distance into metres.)
b If a diver hears a whale song 10 minutes after the d 3000 600 000
whale made the noise, how far away is she?
e 200 25
A student is measuring the speed of sound in air. He
hears an echo from a wall 50 m away 0.3 s after he made f 1500 3000
the sound. Calculate the speed of sound. (Hint: remember
the sound has to travel to the wall and back again.)
Sound travels at different speeds in Material Speed of Frequency Wavelength
different materials. sound (m/s) (Hz) (m)
Use the equation relating wave speed,
a steel 12 200 0.5
frequency and wavelength to calculate
the missing numbers in the table on the b wood 50 80
right.
c air 330 1.65
Waves in a spring have a frequency of
8 Hz and travel at a speed of 4 m/s. d water 1500 15 000
Calculate their wavelength.
e concrete 3500 500
Water waves with a wavelength of 1.5 cm
travel across a tank at 0.021 m/s. f rubber 150 0.015
Calculate their frequency.
Radio waves travel at 3 × 108 m/s in a vacuum. This means that, if Location Distance (m)
controllers on the ground are communicating to astronauts or space
probes, there will be a delay before they receive a reply. ISS 322 000
Use the information in the table to calculate the time delay in receiving Mars 2.25 × 1011
a reply from:
Pluto 4.9 × 1012
a astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS)
b a probe on the surface of Mars
c the New Horizons probe passing Pluto.
There is a time delay of 4 hours when sending messages to a space
probe. How far from Earth is the probe?

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purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
CP4b.2 Equation practice
Many ships are fitted with a sonar system. This sends out
‘pings’ of sound, and then detects the echo when the sound is
reflected by the sea bed or by fish beneath the ship.
Sound travels at approximately 1533 m/s in sea water and
1493 m/s in fresh water.
An anchored fishing boat uses sonar to work out how deep
the sea is. It sends out a ‘ping’ of sound and detects the
echo 2 s later.
a How deep is the water?
b If the boat was on a freshwater lake instead of the sea,
how deep would the water be if the echo took 2 s to
return?
c A little while later, the sonar detects two echoes from a
ping, after 0.05 s and 0.7 s. These echoes are from
fish in the sea beneath the boat. Calculate how far
below the boat the fish are.
A sonar system can use sound waves with a frequency of 120 kHz or 200 kHz.
d What is the wavelength of each of these waves when they are sent through sea water?
e What are their wavelengths in freshwater?
f The ship operating these sonar systems is in sea water with a depth of 3 km.
How long will it take an echo to return to the ship after a ‘ping’?
A sonar ‘ping’ with a frequency of 50 kHz covers a distance of 300 m in 0.2 s.
What is the wavelength of the sound?

distance wave speed = frequency × wavelength


wave speed =
time
v = wave speed in m/s v = wave speed in m/s
x = distance in m f = frequency in Hz
t = time in s λ = wavelength in m

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purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.

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