Extra Questions Chapter-11 Sound

Very Short Answer Questions

1: Is sound wave longitudinal or transverse?
Answer: Sound wave is longitudinal in nature.

2: What is the relation between frequency (ν) and time period of a

sound wave?
Answer: ν = 1/T
Frequency is inversely proportional to time period.

3: In which of the three media air, water or steel does sound

travel the fastest?
Answer: Sound travels fastest in steel.

4: Which has a higher pitch—the sound of a whistle or that of a

drum?
Answer: The sound of whistle has higher pitch.

5: What is pitch?
Answer: Pitch is the quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations
(frequency) producing it. OR
The way our brain interprets the frequency of an emitted sound is called
the pitch.

6: How can we distinguish one sound from another having the

same pitch and loudness?
Answer: The quality or timber of sound helps us to distinguish one sound
from another having the same pitch and loudness.

7: What is the audible range of frequency for human beings?

Answer: The audible range of frequencies for human beings is 20 Hz to
20,000 Hz.

8: What is one Hz?

Answer: Hz is the unit of frequency, called as Hertz. One Hertz is equal to
one cycle (vibration) per second.

9: Define speed of sound.

Answer: The speed of sound is defined as the distance travelled per unit
time by compression or rarefaction.

10: What is ‘note’ of sound?

Answer: The sound produced due to a mixture of several frequencies is
called a note, it is pleasant to listen to.
11: Find the frequency of a wave whose time period is 0.002
second.
Answer: Frequency = 1/ Time period
Frequency = 1/0.002 = 500 Hz

12: What is the time period-of sound wave?

Answer: The time taken by two consecutive compressions or rarefactions
to cross a fixed point is called the time period of the wave.

13: What is the minimum distance required to hear distinct echo?

Answer: The minimum distance of the obstacle from the source of sound
should be 17.2 m.

14: What is reverberation?

Answer: The repeated reflection that results in the persistence of sound is
called reverberation.

15: What is SONAR?

Answer: SONAR is—Sound Navigation and Ranging. It is a device that
uses ultrasonic waves to measure the distance, direction and speed of
underwater objects by getting the reflection of sound.

16: What is ‘ultrasonic’ and ‘infrasonic’ sound wave?

Answer: Sound waves with frequencies below the audible range (less
than 20 Hz) are termed as “infrasonic” and those sound waves with
frequencies above the audible range (more than 20000 Hz) are termed as
“ultrasonic”.

17: What should be the time interval between the originated

sound and the reflected sound to be heard distinctly?

Answer: To hear a distinct sound the time interval between the originated
sound and the reflected sound must be at least 0.1 second.

Short Answer Type Questions

1: What is a medium? Give two examples.
Answer: The matter or substance through which sound is transmitted is
called a medium. It can be solid, liquid or gas. Example, air, water, metals.

2: Define wave-motion.
Answer: A wave is a disturbance that moves through a medium when the
particles of the medium set neighbouring particles into motion. The
particles of the medium do not move forward but the disturbance is
carried forward.

3: What is ‘sonic boom’?

Answer: When an object just attains a supersonic speed, it causes shock
waves in air. As a result, there is large change in air pressure. This results
in sonic boom.

4: Why does sound become faint with distance?

Answer: Sound is a form of energy. As it moves away from the source its
amplitude as well as its loudness decreases. The energy also gets
transformed in vibration of the particles of the medium.

5: Why do we say that sound waves are longitudinal?

Answer: Longitudinal waves need medium for propagation. The sound
energy travel in the same line as the particles oscillate. It forms
compression and rarefaction for the longitudinal wave motion. Sound wave
shows all the characteristics of longitudinal wave so it is called as
longitudinal wave.

6: Differentiate between longitudinal wave and transverse wave.

Answer:
Longitudinal Wave Transverse Wave

It needs medium for propagation. It may or may not need medium for propagation.

Particles of the medium move in a direction parallel to Particles of the medium move in perpendicular
the direction of propagation of the disturbance. direction of propagation of the disturbance.
Example, sound wave. Example, light wave seismic wave.

7: What is crest and trough?

Answer: The maximum oscillation disturbance of particles of air forms
crest and trough.
When a wave is propagated, as represented below, a peak is called the
crest and a valley is called the trough of a wave.

8. What is echo? Why don’t we get echo in small room?

Answer: The distinct sound heard after reflection of sound from the
source is called echo. For echo, the distance of reflecting surface from the
source should be more than 17.2 m.

9: What is velocity of sound? Why does sound travel faster in

summer season than in winter?
Answer: Velocity of sound is the speed of sound in a given medium at a
given temperature.
As the temperature increases the speed of sound also increases because
warmer air has molecules that vibrate faster and have more kinetic energy, hence in
summer the sound travels faster than in winter.

10: Draw a graphical representation of the wave shape for

(a) low pitched sound
(b) a high-pitched sound.

11: Give two applications of echo/reflection of sound.

Answer: (i) Ships use reflection of sound technique “SONAR” which helps
in locating the depth, distance, direction and speed of underwater objects.
(ii) Ceilings of concert halls are curved so that sound after reflection
reaches all comers of the hall.

12: Define amplitude time period and frequency of sound wave.

Answer: Amplitude: The magnitude of the maximum disturbance in the
medium on either side of the mean value is called amplitude of the wave.
Its unit is meter.
Time Period: The time taken by two consecutive compressions or
rarefactions to cross a fixed point is called the time period of the wave.
Frequency: The number of oscillations, occurring per unit time is called
the frequency of sound wave.

13: A sound wave causes the density of air at a place to oscillate

1200 times in 2 minutes. Find the time period and frequency of
the wave.
Answer: Frequency = 1200/2 × 60 = 10Hz
Time period =?
Frequency = 1/T
∴ T = 1/Frequency
= 1/10
= 0.1 s.

14: Give 3 uses of ultrasound.

Answer: Use of ultrasound:
1. Ultrasound is used to detect cracks and flaws in metal blocks.
2. It is used in ‘echo-cardiography’, the ultrasonic waves are made to
reflect from various parts of the heart and form the image of the heart.
3. It is used in ‘ultrasonography’, to detect the image of organs or to
detect the abnormalities in the organs. It is also used to examine the
foetus during pregnancy to detect congenital defects.
15: What is the function of middle ear?
Answer: Middle ear consist of three small bones called hammer, anvil and
stirrup. These three bones receive the sound vibrations and increase the
strength of these vibrations to amplify the vibrations received by ear-
drum. These amplified vibrations are further passed to the inner ear.

16. A ship sends out ultrasound that return from the seabed and
is detected after 3.42 s. If the speed of ultrasound through
seawater is 1531 m/s. What is the distance of the seabed from the
ship?
Answer: Time between transmission and detection t = 342 s.
Speed of ultrasound in seawater = 1531 m/s.
Distance travelled by the ultra sound = 2 × depth of sea = 2d
2d = speed of sound × time
= 1531 × 3.42
= 5236 m
∴ d = 5236/2
= 2618 m.
The distance of the seabed from the ship is 2618 m.

17: Distinguish between tone, note and noise.

Answer: Tone: A sound of single frequency is called a tone.
Note: The sound which is produced due to a mixture of several
frequencies is called a note.
Noise: The sound which is produced due to a mixture of several
frequencies but is unpleasant to the ear is called noise.

18: Establish the relationship between speed, wavelength and

frequency of sound.
Answer: Speed of sound —» The distance travelled by a wave or a point
on a wave (compression or rarefaction) per unit time.
Speed v = Distance/Time
v = λ/T
Distance = wavelength of the sound wave, it is the distance travelled by
the sound wave in one time period (T) of the wave.
∴ v = λ/T (as v = 1/T)
∴ v = λv,
Frequency = 1/Time period
Speed = Wavelength × Frequency.

19: Which wave property determines

(a) loudness?
(b) pitch?
Name the characteristic of the sound which help you to
distinguish your friend’s voice while talking in a dark room.
Answer: (a) Loudness is determined by amplitude.
(b) Pitch is determined by frequency.
The quality or timber of sound helps us to distinguish our friend’s voice
while talking in a dark room.

20: A sound produces 13 crests and 15 troughs in 3 seconds.

When the second crest is produced the first is 2 cm away from the
source? Calculate.
(a) the wavelength
(b) the frequency
(c) the wave speed.
Answer:

(a) Wavelength = distance between two consecutive crests or troughs is 2

cm.
(b) Frequency = Number of troughs/Time = 15/3 = 5 Hz
(c) Wave speed = Distance/Time
Distance travelled by wave = 15 × 2 = 30cm
Time = 3 seconds
∴ Wave speed = 30/3 = 10 cm/s.

Long Answer Type Questions

1: Sound cannot travel in vacuum. Describe an experiment to
demonstrate this.
Answer: Sound is a mechanical wave and needs a material medium to
propagate. It cannot travel in vacuum and can be shown by the following
experiment.
 Take an electric bell and an airtight glass bell jar. The electric bell
is suspended inside the airtight bell jar. Switch ‘ON’ the electric
bell.
 Now, connect the bell jar to vacuum pump.
 Pump out the air from the jar, the sound becomes fainter, although
the same current passes through the bell.
 Pump out some more air from the jar, a very feeble sound is heard.
 When the air is completely removed from the jar, no sound is
heard.
2: Explain the structure of the human ear with the help of a
diagram.
Answer:

(a) Outer Ear: Pinna, auditory canal and tympanic membrane

Pinna: It collects the sound from the surroundings.
Auditory Canal: The sound waves collected passes through this canal.
Tympanic Membrane: It is a thin membrane which receives the vibrations
of sound. A compression reaches the eardrum, the pressure on the outside
of the membrane increases and pushes the eardrum inward, and moves
out when the rarefaction reaches.
(b) Middle Ear: Consists of three small bones called hammer, anvil and
stirrup. The vibrations are received by these three bones and the strength
of vibrations is increased i.e., the sound is amplified and passed to inner
ear.
(c) Inner Ear: It consist of cochlea and auditory nerve.
Cochlea receives the amplified vibrations and convert them into electrical
signals. These electrical signals are sent to the brain via the auditory
nerve and the brain interprets the signals as sound.
3: Given that sound travels in air at 340 m/sec, find the
wavelength of the waves in air produced by 20 kHz sound source.
If the same source is put in a water tank, what would be the
wavelength of the sound waves in water? (Speed of sound in
water = 1480 m/s.)
Answer: Speed of sound in air = 340 m/s.
Frequency = 20 kHz = 20 × 103 Hz
Wavelength =?

4: A child watching Dussehra celebration from a distance sees the

effigy of Ravana burst into flames and hears the explosion
associated with it 2 sec after that. How far was he from the effigy
if the speed of sound in air that night was 335 m/sec?
Answer: Speed of sound in air = 335 m/s.
time required to reach the sound = 2 sec
distance of the source of sound =?
∴ Speed = Distance/Time
∴ Distance = Speed × Time
= 335 × 2 sec
= 670 m.