SOUND WAVES

SOUND WAVE
EXERCISE-1
Note :This Symbol denotes that Question is excluded from JEE MAIN Syllabus.

PART (1) : EQUATION OF SOUND WAVE, WAVELENGTH, FREQUENCY, PRESSURE

AND DISPLACEMENT AMPLITUDE

OBJECTIVE
1. A boat at anchor is rocked by waves whose crests are 100m apart and velocity is 25m/s. The
boat bounces up once in every :–

(A) 2500 s (B) 75 s (C) 4 s (D) 0·25 s

2. When sound wave is refracted from air to water, which of the following will remain unchanged?

(A) wave number (B) wavelength (C) wave velocity (D) frequency

3. A piece of cork is floating on water in a small tank. The cork oscillates up and down vertically
when small ripples pass over the surface of water. The velocity of the ripples being 0.21 ms–1,
22
wave length 15 mm and amplitude 5 mm, the maximum velocity of the piece of cork is ( = )
7

(A) 0.44 ms–1 (B) 0.24 ms–1 (C) 2.4 ms–1 (D) 4.4 ms–1

4. The frequency of a man’s voice is 300 Hz and its wavelength is 1 meter. If the wavelength of a
child’s voice is 1.5 m, then the frequency of the child’s voice is:

(A) 200 Hz (B) 150 Hz (C) 400 Hz (D) 350 Hz.

5. A wave of frequency 500 Hz travels between X and Y, a distance of 600 m in 2 sec. How many
wavelength are there in distance XY:–

(A) 1000 (B) 300 (C) 180 (D) 2000

SUBJECTIVE
6. The audible frequency for a normal human being is 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Find the corresponding
wavelengths if the speed of sound in air 320 m/s

7. A traveling sound wave is described by the equation y = 2 sin (4t – 5x) where y is measured in
centimeter, t in seconds and x in meters.

(a) Find the ratio of amplitude and wavelength of wave.

(b) Find the ratio of maximum velocity of particle to wave velocity.

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PART (2) : SPEED OF SOUND

OBJECTIVE
1. A machine gun is mounted on an armored car moving with a speed of 20 ms–1. The gun can
point against the direction of motion of car. The muzzle speed of bullet is equal to speed of
sound in air i.e., 340 ms–1. The time difference between bullet actually reaching and sound of
firing reaching at a target 544 m away from car at the instant of firing is

(A) 1.2 s (B) 0.1 s (C) 1 s (D) 10 s

2. A tuning fork is vibrating with constant frequency and amplitude. If the air is heated without
changing pressure the following quantities will increase.

(A) Wavelength (B) Frequency (C) Velocity (D) Time period

3. The ratio of speed of sound in a monoatomic gas to that in water vapours at any temperature is.

(when molecular weight of gas is 40 gm/mol and for water vapours is 18 gm/mol)

(A) 0.75 (B) 0.73 (C) 0.68 (D) None of these

4. Under similar conditions of temperature and pressure, In which of the following gases the
velocity of sound will be largest.

(A) H2 (B) N2 (C) He (D) CO2

5. If vrms = root mean square speed of molecules

vav = average speed of molecules

vmp = most probable speed of molecules

vs = speed of sound in a gas

Then, identify the correct relation between these speeds.

(A) vrms > vav > vmp > vs (B) vav > vmp > vrms > vs

(C) vmp > vav > vrms > vs (D) vrms > vav > vs > vmp

SUBJECTIVE
6. A man stands before a large wall at a distance of 100.0 m and claps his hands at regular intervals
In such way that echo of a clap merges with the next clap. If he claps 5 times during every
3 seconds, find the velocity of sound in air.

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PART (3) : INTENSITY OF SOUND, DECIBEL SCALE

OBJECTIVE
1. A sound absorber attenuates the sound level by 20 dB. The intensity decreases by a factor
of:–

(A) 1000 (B) 10000 (C) 10 (D) 100

2. A sound of intensity  is greater by 3.0103 dB from another sound of intensity 10 nW cm–2. The
absolute value of intensity of sound level  in Wm–2 is :

(A) 2.5 × 10–4 (B) 2 × 10–4 (C) 2.0 × 10–2 (D) 2.5 × 10–2

3. For a sound source of intensity W/m2, corresponding sound level is B0 decibel. If the intensity is
increased to 4, new sound level becomes approximately :

(A) 2B0 dB (B) (B0 + 3)dB (C) (B0 + 6)dB (D) 4B0 dB

4. The sound intensity is 0.008 W/m2 at a distance of 10 m from an isotropic point source of sound.
The power of the source is approximately :

(A) 2.5 watt (B) 0.8 watt (C) 8 watt (D) 10 watt

SUBJECTIVE
5. Two sound waves one in air and the other in fresh water are equal in intensity .

(a) Find the ratio of pressure amplitudes of the wave in water to that of the wave in air .

(b) If the pressure amplitudes of the waves are equal then what will be the ratio of the intensities
of the waves

[ Vsound = 340 m/s in air & density of air = 1.25kg/m3 , Vsound = 1530 m/s in water,density of
water = 1000 kg /m3 ]

PART (4) : INTERFERENCE

OBJECTIVE
1. Sound signal is sent through a composite tube as shown in the
figure. The radius of the semicircular portion of the tube is r. Speed
of sound in air is v. The source of sound is capable of giving varied
frequencies in the range of 1 and 2 (where 2 > 1). If n is an

integer then frequency for maximum intensity is given by :

nv nv nv nv
(A) (B) r (   2) (C)  r (D) (r  2) 
r

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2. An interference is observed due to two coherent sources ‘A’ & ‘B’ separated by a distance 4
along the yaxis where  is the wavelength of the source. A detector D is moved on the positive
xaxis. The number of points on the xaxis excluding the points, x = 0 & x =  at which maximum
will be observed is -

(A) three (B) four (C) two (D) infinite

SUBJECTIVE
3. Two point sound sources A and B each of power 25 W and frequency 850 Hz are 1 m apart. The
sources are in phase

(a) Determine the phase difference between the waves emitting from A and B received by detector
D as shown in figure.

(b) Also determine the intensity of the resultant sound wave as recorded by detector D . Velocity
of sound = 340 m/s.

4. A sound source, detector and a movable wall are arranged as

shown in figure. In this arrangement detector is detecting the
maximum intensity. If the speed of sound is 330 m /s in air and
frequency of source is 660 Hz, then find the minimum distance by
which the wall should be moved away from source, so that detector

detects minimum intensity.

PART (5) : REFLECTION OF SOUND EQUATION OF STATIONARY WAVES

OBJECTIVE
1. When a sound wave is reflected from a wall, the phase difference between the reflected and
incident pressure wave is:

(A) 0 (B)  (C) /2 (D) /4

SUBJECTIVE
2. A metallic rod of length 1 m is rigidly clamped at its end points. Longitudinal stationary waves are
setup in the rod in such a way that there are six antinodes of displacement wave observed along
the rod. The amplitude of the antinode is 2  106 m. Write the equations of the stationary wave
and the component waves at the point 0.1 m from the one end of the rod.

[Young's modulus = 7.5  1010 N/m2 , density = 2500 kg/m3 ]

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3. The equation of a longitudinal standing wave due to superposition of the progressive waves
produced by two sources of sound is s = 20 sin 10 x sin 100 t where s is the displacement
from mean position measured in mm, x is in meters and is in seconds . The specific gravity of
the medium is 103 . Density of water = 103 kg/m3 . Find :
(a) Wavelength, frequency and velocity of the progressive waves .

(b) Bulk modulus of the medium and the pressure amplitude .

(c) Minimum distance between pressure antinode and a displacement antinode .

(d) Intensity at the displacement nodes.

PART (6) : ORGAN PIPES AND RESONANCE

O B J EC TIVE

1. A cylindrical tube, open at both ends, has a fundamental frequency ƒ in air. The tube is dipped
vertically in water so that half of its in water. The fundamental frequency of the air column is now :–

ƒ 3ƒ
(A) (B) (C) ƒ (D) 2ƒ
2 4

2. At the closed end of an organ pipe :

(A) the displacement is zero (B) the displacement amplitude is maximum

(C) the pressure amplitude is zero (D) the pressure amplitude is maximum

3. The fundamental frequency of a closed organ pipe is same as the first overtone frequency of an
open pipe. If the length of open pipe is 50 cm, the length of closed pipe is

(A) 25 cm (B) 12.5 cm (C) 100 cm (D) 200 cm

4. An organ pipe P1 closed at one end vibrating in its first harmonic and another pipe P2 open
at ends vibrating in its third harmonic are in resonance with a given tuning fork. The ratio of
the length of P1 and P2 is:–

8 3 1 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
3 8 6 3

5. A tube of diameter d and of length  unit is open at both the ends. Its fundamental frequency of
resonance is found to be 1. The velocity of sound in air is 330 m/sec. One end of tube is now
closed. The lowest frequency of resonance of tube is now 2. Taking into consideration the end
2
correction,  is
1

(  0.6 d) 1 (  0.3 d) 1 (  0.6 d) 1 (d  0.3 )

(A) (  0.3 d) (B) 2 (  0.6 d) (C) 2 (  0.3 d) (D) 2 (d  0.6 )

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6. A resonance tube is resonated with tuning fork of frequency 256 Hz. If the length of first and
second resonating air columns are 32 cm and 100 cm, then end correction will be

(A) 1 cm (B) 2 cm (C) 4 cm (D) 6 cm

SUBJECTIVE
7. In an organ pipe the distance between the adjacent nodes is 4 cm. Find the frequency of source
if speed of sound in air is 336 m/s

8. Two adjacent resonance frequencies of an open organ pipe are 1800 and 2100 Hz. Find the
length of the tube. The speed of sound in air is 330 m/s.

9. Find the number of possible natural oscillations of air column in a pipe whose frequencies lie
below f0 = 1250 Hz. The length of the pipe is  = 85 cm. The velocity of sound is v = 340 m/s.

Consider the two cases :

(a) The pipe is closed from one end

(b) The pipe is opened from both ends.

The open ends of the pipe are assumed to be the antinodes of displacement.

PART (7) : BEATS

OBJECTIVE
1. Frequency of tuning fork A is 256 Hz. It produces 4 beats/second with tuning fork B. When wax
is applied at tuning fork B then 6 beats/second are heard. Frequency of B is:–

(A) 250 Hz (B) 260 Hz

(C) 252 Hz (D) (A) & (C) both may possible

2. A sound source of frequency 512 Hz is producing 6 beats with a guitar. If the string of guitar is
stretched slightly then beat frequency decreases. The original frequency of guitar is

(A) 506 Hz (B) 512 Hz (C) 518 Hz (D) 524 Hz

3. The number of beats heard per second if there are three sources of sound of frequencies
(n – 1), n and (n + 1) of equal intensities sounded together is :

(A) 2 (B) 1 (C) 4 (D) 3

4. Two tuning forks having frequency 256 Hz (A) and 262 Hz (B) tuning fork. A produces some
beats per second with unknown tuning fork, same unknown tuning fork produce double beats
per second from B tuning fork then the frequency of unknown tuning fork is:–

(A) 262 (B) 260 (C) 250 (D) 300

SUBJECTIVE
5. A metal wire of diameter 1 mm, is held on two knife edges separated by a distance of 50 cm. The
tension in the wire is 100 N. The wire vibrating in its fundamental frequency and a vibrating tuning
fork together produces 5 beats per sec. The tension in the wire is then reduced to 81 N. When
the two are excited, beats are again at the same rate. Calculate

(a) The frequency of the fork (b) The density of the material of the wire .

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PART (8) : DOPPLER EFFECT (EXCLUDED IN JEE MAIN SYLLABUS)

OBJECTIVE
1. A source and an observer are at rest w.r.t ground. Which of the following quantities will remain
same, if wind blows from source to observer ?
(A) Frequency (B) speed of sound (C) wavelength (D) Time period
2. An engine driver moving towards a wall with velocity of 50 ms–1 emits a note of frequency
1.2 kHz. The frequency of note after reflection from the wall as heard by the engine driver when
speed of sound in air is 350 ms–1 is :

(A) 1 kHz (B) 1.8 kHz (C) 1.6 kHz (D) 1.2 kHz
3. Source and observer both start moving simultaneously from origin, one along X-axis and the
other along Y-axis with speed of source equal to twice the speed of observer. The graph between
the apparent frequency (n' ) observed by observer and time t would be : (n is the frequency of the
source)

(A) (B) (C) (D)

SUBJECTIVE
4. An observer rides with a sound source of frequency f and moving with velocity v towards a large
vertical wall. Considering the velocity of sound waves as c, find :
(i) The number of waves striking the surface of wall per second
(ii) The wavelength of the reflected wave
(iii) The frequency of reflected wave as observed by observer.
(iv) Beat frequency heard by the observer.
5. A source of sonic oscillations with frequency f0 = 1000 Hz moves at right angles to the wall with
a velocity u = 0.17 m/s. Two stationary receivers R1 and R2 are located on a straight line,
coinciding with the trajectory of the source , in the following succession : R1  source  R2  wall.
Which receiver registers the beatings and what is the beat frequency ? The velocity of sound is
equal to v = 340 m/s.
6. Two trains move towards each other with the same speed. Speed of sound is 340 ms–1. If the
pitch of the tone of the whistle of one when heard on the other changes to 9/8 times, then the
speed of each train is :

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