NCERT NOTES- SOUND

Intext Exercise
1. How does the sound produced by a vibrating object in a medium reach your ear?

Solution: When something vibrates, the medium’s surrounding particles must also vibrate. Next to
vibrating particles, other particles are compelled to vibrate as well. As a result, sound waves
generated by vibrating objects propagate across a medium, passing through particles before
reaching your ears.

2. Explain how sound is produced by your school bell.

Ans: When the school bell rings, the neighbouring particles in air are forced to vibrate
simultaneously. This disturbance leads to the formation of a sound wave and when the
bell moves forward, it pushes the air in front of it. This creates a region of high pressures
known as compression. When the bell moves backwards, a region of low pressure known
as rarefaction is created. In this way the bell continues to move forward and backward
which produces a series of compressions and rarefactions. This leads to the sound of a
bell when it propagates through air.

3. Why are sound waves called mechanical waves?

Ans: Sound waves propagate due to interaction of particles in the medium due to a series
of compressions and rarefactions. Hence, these waves are called mechanical waves.

4. Suppose you and your friend are on the moon. Will you be able to hear any sound
produced by your friend?

Ans: Sound waves are mechanical waves and hence need a medium to propagate. As the
moon is devoid of any atmosphere, we cannot hear any sound on the moon.

5. Which wave property determines (a) loudness, (b) pitch?

Ans: (a) The loudness of a sound depends on its amplitude. Higher the amplitude,

the louder the sound.

(b) The pitch of a sound depends on its frequency. Higher the frequency,

higher the pitch of sound.

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6. Guess which sound has a higher pitch: guitar or car horn?

Ans: In the case of guitar, the frequency of vibration produced is greater when compared
to a car horn. Pitch of the sound depends on the frequency. Higher the frequency, the
higher the pitch. So the guitar produces a higher pitched sound than a car horn.

7. What are wavelength, frequency, time period and amplitude of a sound wave?

Ans: Following are the definitions given below:

Wavelength: Wavelength is defined as the distance between two consecutive

compressions or two consecutive rarefactions. Its SI unit is metre (m).

Frequency: Frequency of a sound wave is defined as the number of complete oscillations

per second. It is measured in hertz (Hz).

Time period: Time period of a sound wave is defined as the time taken by a sound wave
to complete one cycle. Its SI unit is seconds (s).

Amplitude: Amplitude of a sound wave is defined as the maximum extent of a vibration,

measured from the position of equilibrium.

8. How are the wavelength and frequency of a sound wave related to its speed?

Ans:

9. Calculate the wavelength of a sound wave whose frequency is 220 Hz and speed is

440 m/s in a given medium.

10. A person is listening to a tone of 500 Hz sitting at a distance of 450 m from the source
of the sound. What is the time interval between successive compressions from the
source?

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Ans: The time interval between two successive compressions is equal to the time

period of the wave. We know that, frequency 500Hz

T= 1/500 = 0.002 s

11. Distinguish between loudness and intensity of sound.

Ans: The intensity of a sound wave is defined as the amount of sound energy passing
through a unit area per second. The loudness or softness of a sound is determined
basically by its amplitude. The amplitude of the sound wave depends upon the force with
which an object vibrates. Intensity helps to decide the amplitude of a sound wave, which
in turn is recognized by the ear as loudness.

12. In which of the three media, air, water or iron, does sound travel the fastest at a
particular temperature?

Ans: Sound travels the fastest in solids, i.e., iron followed by water and air at a particular
temperature.

13. An echo returned in 3 s. What is the distance of the reflecting surface from the source,
given that the speed of sound is 342 m/s?

Ans: Speed of sound is v= 342 m / s

Echo returns in time,

t = 3s.

Distance travelled by sound is given by: v x t = 342 x 3= 1026 m

As the sound travels and gets reflected back, the distance of the reflecting surface from
the source will be: 1026/2 = 513 m

14. Why are the ceilings of concert halls curved?

Ans: Ceilings of concert halls are curved so that the sound waves can spread

uniformly in all directions after reflection.

15. What is the audible range of the average human ear?

Ans: The audible range of an average human ear is between 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz . Humans
cannot hear sounds with frequency less than 20 Hz and greater than 20,000 Hz.

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16. What is the range of frequencies associated with

a) Infrasound?

Ans: Infrasound has frequencies less than 20 Hz.

b) Ultrasound?

Ans: Ultrasound has frequencies more than 20,000 Hz.

NCERT Exercise

1. What is sound and how is it produced?

Ans: Sound is a form of energy which produces the sensation of hearing produced by
vibration. When an object vibrates, it causes the neighbouring particles of the medium to
vibrate which are further passed to adjacent particles. This creates a disturbance in the
medium, which travels in the form of waves. Hence, when this disturbance reaches the
ear sound is produced.

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

Ans: Consider the figure : from notes

The most common medium through which sound travels is air. When a vibrating object
moves forward, it pushes and compresses the air forward creating a region of high
pressure. This region is called a compression (C). This compression starts to move away
from the vibrating object. When the vibrating object moves backwards, it creates a region
of low pressure called rarefaction (R). As the object moves back and forth rapidly, a series
of compressions and rarefactions are created in the air. These make the sound wave that
propagates through the medium. Compression is the region of high pressure and
rarefaction is the region of low pressure and the pressure is related to the number of
particles of a medium in a given volume. More density of the particles in the medium
gives more pressure and vice versa. Hence, propagation of sound can be visualised as
propagation of density variations or pressure variations in the medium.

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

Ans: In the case of sound waves, the particles do not move from one place to another but
they simply oscillate back and forth about their position of rest. In sound waves the
individual particles of the medium move in a direction parallel to the direction of
propagation of the disturbance. Hence, a longitudinal wave is called a sound wave.

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

Ans: It is the quality or timber of sound which enables us to distinguish one sound from
another having the same pitch and loudness.

6. Flash and thunder are produced simultaneously. But thunder is heard

a few seconds after the flash is seen. Why?

Ans: Velocity of sound is 344 m / s and that of light is 3x 10 8 m / s . As the speed of light
is greater than that of sound, the sound of thunder requires longer time than light to
reach Earth. Therefore, before we hear thunder, a flash is seen.

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 .

A person has a hearing range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

Speed of sound in air is 344 m / s

Speed = Wavelength x Frequency

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

Ans: Consider the length of the aluminium rod to be d.

Speed of sound wave in aluminium at 25 C is Val = 6420m / s.

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Therefore, time taken by the sound wave to reach the other end will be:

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

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

Ans: The incident and the reflected sound wave create the same angle at the point of
incidence with the normal to the surface. In addition, the sound wave incident, the sound
wave reflected, and the normal sound wave to the point of incidence are all in the same
plane. Hence, sound follows the same laws of reflection as light does.

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 remain the same. Do
you hear echo sound on a hotter day?

Ans: An echo is heard when the time interval between the original sound and the sound
reflected is at least 0.1s. Sound speed in a medium is directly proportional to the
temperature. Hence, the time interval will be inversely directly proportional to the
temperature. Therefore, the time interval between the original sound and the sound
reflected will decrease on a hotter day.

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

Ans: Following are the two practical applications of reflection of sound waves:

a) SONAR: SONAR is a technology where reflection of sound is used to measure the

distance and speed of underwater objects.

b) Stethoscope: A stethoscope is a device where the sound of the patient’s

heart beat reaches the doctor’s ear by multiple reflections of sound.

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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 / s2.

Ans: Height of the tower is s = 500 m. Velocity of sound is v= 340 m / s

As the stone is initially at rest, initial velocity of the stone will be u= 0 m/s.

Let the time taken by the stone to fall to the base of the tower be t1

Now, time taken by the sound to reach the top from the base of the tower will be

Total time = t1 +t2 = 10 +1.47 = 11.47 s

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

Ans: Speed of sound is 339 m / s.

Wavelength of sound is = 1.5 cm= 0.015 m

Speed of sound = Wavelength x Frequency

Not audible.

15. What is reverberation? How can it be reduced?

Ans: Reverberation is defined as persistence of sound (after the source stops producing
sound) due to repeated reflection. When a sound is created in a big hall, it persists by
repeated reflection from the walls until it is reduced to a value where it is no longer

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audible. To reduce reverberation, the roof and walls of the auditorium are generally
covered with sound-absorbent materials like compressed fibre board, rough plaster or
draperies. The seat materials are selected based on their sound absorbing properties.

16. What is the loudness of sound? What factors does it depend on?

Ans: The measure of the response of the ear to the sound is defined as the loudness of
sound. The loudness or softness of sound is determined basically by its amplitude which
depends upon the force with which an object is made to vibrate. A loud sound has high
energy. Loudness depends on the amplitude of vibrations such that loudness is
proportional to the square of the amplitude of vibrations.

17. Explain how bats use ultrasound to catch prey.

Ans: Bats produce high-pitched, ultrasonic squeaks. These high-pitched squeaks are
reflected by objects like prey and brought back to the ear of the bat. This helps the bat to
understand his prey's distance.

18. How is ultrasound used for cleaning?

Ans: Ultrasound waves are used for cleaning by passing through the objects kept in the
cleaning solution. Their high frequency removes dirt from the objects.

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

Ans: Metallic components are generally used in construction of big structures like
buildings, bridges, machines and also scientific equipment. Ultrasounds is used to detect
cracks and flaws in metal blocks. The cracks or holes inside the metal blocks that are
invisible from outside reduce the strength of the structure. Ultrasonic waves are allowed
to pass through the metal block and detectors are used to detect the transmitted waves.
If there is even a small defect, the ultrasound gets reflected back. This indicates the
presence of the flaw or any defect.

SEE FIGURE FRON NCERT

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