# Tagged Questions

1answer
75 views

### Why do sound waves travel at the same speed moleculewise? (Same medium)

I don't understand what happens in reality (outside of wave theories). If I clap my hands I invest energy in the nearby air molecules, which move and transfer their energy to nearby molecules which ...
0answers
59 views

### Slinky reverb: the origin of the iconic Star Wars blaster sound

This is a fun problem that I came across recently, which I'm posting here for your delectation. We all love a good slinky: they can be used for all sorts of fun demos in physics. One example is the ...
3answers
74 views

### Lethality of sounds and extreme “loudness”

In theory, could pure sound be lethal? How loud would it have to be? Also, which events are the loudest in the universe, and how loud are they? I'm confining attention to events which occur regularly, ...
2answers
80 views

### In terms of the Doppler effect, what happens when the source is moving faster than the wave?

I'm just trying to understand this problem from a qualitative perspective. The Doppler effect is commonly explained in terms of how a siren sounds higher in pitch as it is approaching a particular ...
3answers
107 views

### Waveguides (in the ocean?)

The speed of sound in the ocean is given by $$c_s(\theta,z) = 1450 + 4.6\theta - 0.055\theta^2 + 0.016z$$ $\theta$ is the temperature in degrees celcius, and $z$ is the depth. In a simplified model, ...
1answer
95 views

### How does one find the wave velocity and the phase speed?

While I was studying beats, I tried to find a displacement function of any particle in the most generalized form. I ended up with $$y=2A\sin(\pi(t-x/v)(f_1+f_2))\cos(\pi(t-x/v)(f_1-f_2)).$$ Now, ...
2answers
217 views

### Can light waves cause beats?

My question is pretty brief. When two sound waves of nearly same frequencies interfere, we get beats. But, I have not observed something like that happening in the case of light. In fact, most of the ...
1answer
74 views

### Acoustic wave equation for a closed sphere

I am looking to model the nodal surfaces in a resonating closed sphere. The sound source is external. What sort of wave equation will reveal the spherical harmonics depending on the frequency, speed ...
2answers
81 views

### Sound Wave Propagation: Why HF are more specular while LF are more omni

The propagation of high frequencies sound waves is more directional (specular), and they don't diffract as much as low frequencies. Low-frequencies diffract and thus propagate in a more omni-spherical ...
1answer
284 views

### Ultrasonic wave through air

I am not a physicist but I am extremely interested in this area. The simple version of my question is: "What is the maximum range of an ultrasonic wave traveling through air?" Now, I know it depends ...
1answer
191 views

### Reflection of sound waves

I was doing a physics experiment, and i encountered a question which i couldnt answer. The experiment was about using a radar technique to measure the speed of sound. The apparatus was a plastic tube ...
1answer
66 views

### Signal emission and detection with certain parameters; Electrical Engineering [closed]

Could a micro-transmittting device, smaller than, say, a golf ball be employed to emit an ultra-narrow detectable beam, (e.g. 1mm) with range of one or 1.5 decimeter to 2 or less centimeter? The ...
1answer
268 views

### How would natural (resonant) frequencies affect amplitudes?

I read $y=A\sin(2\pi ft)$, where $A$=Amplitude, $f$=Frequency, $t$=Time and $y$=$Y$ position of the wave. Since natural frequencies only take the most effect when they are close to the frequency. How ...
2answers
136 views

### Does light have timbre?

Timbre is a property associated with the shape of a sound wave, that is, the coefficients of the discrete Fourier transform of the corresponding signal. This is why a violin and a piano can each play ...
1answer
127 views

### Why does the echo for soundwaves hitting a vacuum come back out of phase? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Phase shift of 180 degrees on reflection from optically denser medium I've read in a physics book for musicians that, when a soundwave hits a near-solid object, it ...
1answer
210 views

### Meaning of negative frequency of sound wave

Suppose that Alice and Bob are both holding speakers emitting sound at a frequency $f$. Alice is stationary while Bob is moving towards Alice at twice the speed of sound. In the case of Alice, if I ...
1answer
75 views

### The Effects of Moving Matter Across Light-Year distances

If I were to stand at one end of a light-year long metal pole, and another person were to stand one light-year away at the other end, and then I were to push on my end of the pole. How long would it ...
2answers
866 views

### Frequency of the sound when blowing in a bottle

I'm sure you have tried sometime to make a sound by blowing in an empty bottle. Of course, the tone/frequency of the sound modifies if the bottle changes its shape, volume, etc. I am interested in ...
3answers
181 views

### Is a soundproofed wall really only as strong as its weakest area?

I've seen a few questions about sound waves and sound travel here on Physics SE, so I'm hoping this question is a good fit for this site. During my internet research on soundproofing, I've come ...
0answers
75 views

### Physical difference between two different attenuation coefficient functions

The attenuation of a wave through a medium can be modeled by the Beer-Lambert Law using an attenuation coefficient. If $I$ is the intensity, and $I_r$ is a reference intensity, then what is the ...
2answers
267 views

### What characterizes a metallic sound, and why do metals have a metallic sound?

We know that when we strike a metal, it usually has a characteristic "sharp" sound, unlike when we strike wood, say. What characterizes this "metallic sound"? Does it have a well-defined power ...
1answer
65 views

### What is the name for the whistling “musical” sounds that change stepwise in pitch when a hollow tube is spun like a lasso?

You have likely heard those sounds, science museums sometimes sell Flexible plastic tubes you can whirl like a lasso. The air rushing by the end of the tube causes these sounds, which are admitted in ...
1answer
448 views

### Science behind the singing wine glass

A wine glass filled with water (approximately half or a quarter), when you use a wet finger and rub the top of the wine glass, the wine glass will produce a sound. I heard that it is because of the ...
0answers
38 views

### Can we compute the magnitude of the stress caused by sound waves on a wall?

As a follow up to this question, Could we really compute the magnitude of the stress caused by sound waves on a wall? If so, How do we do that?
1answer
494 views

### Why and how is sound produced when two objects hit each other?

When two objects collide and undergo a partially inelastic collision (so every one we experience in every-day life), they rebound to a certain degree, but kinetic energy is not conserved. Thus, the ...
2answers
633 views

### How can sound waves propagate through air?

We know that the sound waves propagate through air, and it can't travel through vacuum. so the thing that help it doing that is the air's molecules pressure. So my question how can that happens? I ...
2answers
96 views

### Sound “exploding” in car's window at certain speed [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Why, when one opens 1 car window, does that noise occur? My knowledge in this area is really out-of-dated and stopped somewhere like ten years ago. So I would like to ...
3answers
348 views

### Physics of a guitar

I understand that when you pluck a guitar string, then a bunch of harmonic frequencies are produced rather than just the frequency of the desired note. If this is true, why does C2 sound so different ...
1answer
214 views

### Open Ended/ Close Ended instruments?

Close ended instruments have twice the wavelength, because the wave must travel twice the distance to repeat itself. Why must a wave reach a lower density medium (air in this case) to repeat? When ...
1answer
491 views

### The speed of sound is proportional to the square root of absolute temperature. What happens at extremely high temperatures?

The speed cannot increase unboundedly of course, so what happens?
2answers
944 views

### The energy of an electromagnetic wave

The intensity of an electromagnetic wave is only related to its amplitude $E^2$ and not its frequency. A photon has the same wavelength as the wave that's carrying it, and its energy is $h f$. So ...
5answers
505 views

### Superposition of electromagnetic waves

The superposition of two waves is given by $$\sin(\omega_1 t)+\sin(\omega_2 t)=2\cos\left(\frac{\omega_1-\omega_2}{2}t\right)\sin\left(\frac{\omega_1+\omega_2}{2}t\right).$$ For sound waves, this ...
3answers
577 views

### Why is there a 90˚ phase angle between particle velocity and sound pressure in spherical waves?

My text says that in a plane sound wave (or in the far field), particle velocity and pressure is in phase. As we move closer to the sound source (to near field and more spherical waves), the phase ...
1answer
335 views

### How does a speaker produced different sounds?

What I have read is that a speaker produce sound by just moving a coil attached to a cone which moves back and forth. So, If I try to move the coil by hand, would it produce sound? If not why not? or ...
2answers
176 views

### Does EM radiation (any, i.e. RF), or sound, radiate everywhere at once?

I am having trouble understanding electromagnetic radiation (or waves in general, be it EM or sound). If I have a 1 Watt speaker, is it infinitely divided and spread out so that everyone in every ...
3answers
2k views

### Why do bass tones travel through walls?

I was in the shower while my roommate was listening to music and got to thinking about the fact that I could only hear the bass and lower drums through the walls. Why is this? The two possibilities I ...
4answers
1k views

### How can a sine wave represent a longitudinal wave?

I envision a longitudinal wave as a series of vertical lines like that drawn on the board in an introductory physics class. This image contains no angles. Sound is a longitudinal wave. Some ...
1answer
305 views

### Why do I hear beats through headphones only at low frequencies?

I was recently playing with this Wolfram Demonstrations applet, which demonstrates beats. At first I thought the app didn't work because I couldn't hear any beats. Then I realized that the applet ...
2answers
779 views

### Wave / particle duality question for sound and light

Sound is usually referred to as just "sound waves" - we do not talk about a "sound particle" and only as a wave or "matter wave." Could something similar apply to light i.e. that there really is no ...
3answers
2k views

### What happens to sound waves?

I apologize if this is a naive question, but I never really learned about this. I'm curious as to what happens to sound waves after they are "used"? For example, if I say something to you verbally, ...
8answers
2k views

### Doppler's effect use

While i was in high-school i learn't the Doppler's Effect which if i remember correctly is: The Apparent change in the frequency of sound caused due the relative motion between the sound and the ...
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