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WAVES and SOUND
Q.1. Fringes are produced using light of wavelength = 4800 A0 in a double-slit experiment. One of the
slits is covered by a thin plate of glass of refractive index 1.4 and other slit by another plate of glass
of double the thickness and of refractive index 1.7. During this process, the central bright fringe
shifts to a position originally occupied by the fifth bright fringe from the centre. Find the thickness of
each glass plate.
Q.2. The speed of sound at N.T.P. in air is 332 m/sec. calculate the speed of sound in hydrogen at (i)
N.T.P. (ii) 8190C temperature and 4 atmospheric pressure. (Air is 16 times heavier than hydrogen)
Q.3. A long wire PQR is made by joining two wires PQ and QR of equal radius PQ has length 4.8 m and
mass 0.6 kg QR has length 2.56 m and mass 0.2 kg. The wire PQR is under tension of 80 N. A
sinusoidal wave pulse of amplitude 3.5 cm is sent along the wire PQ from the end P. No power is
dissipated during the propagation of the wave pulse find time taken by the wave pulse to reach the
end R.
Q.4. An object of mass 0.8 kg is attached to one
end of a spring and the system is set into x(cm)
simple harmonic motion. The displacement
of the object as a function of time is shown 0.08
in the figure with the aid of the data 2 3
determine the spring constant k. O 1 4 Time
0.08 Second
Q.5. Third overtone of a closed organ pipe is in unison with fourth harmonic of an open organ pipe. Find
the ratio of the lengths of the pipes.
Q.6. A wave of frequency 500 Hz has a wave velocity of 350 m/s. Find the distance between two points
which are 600 out of phase.
Q.7. A transverse sinusoidal wave of amplitude A, wavelength and frequency f is travelling on a
stretched string. The maximum speed of any point on the string is v/10 where v is the speed of
propagation of the wave. If A = 10-3 m and v = 10 m/s. Then find f.
Q.8. A uniform rope of length 12 m and mass 3 kg hang’s vertically from a rigid support. A block of mass
1 kg is attached to the free end of the rope. A transverse pulse of wavelength 0.08 m produced at
the lower end of the rope. What is the wavelength of the pulse when it reaches the top of the rope?
Q.9. (a) A band playing music at a frequency f is moving towards a wall at a speed v b . A motorist is
following the band with a speed vm . If v is the speed of sound, obtain an expression for the beat
frequency heard by the motorist.
(b) The first overtone of an open pipe and the fundamental note of a pipe closed at one end give 5
beats/sec when sounded together. If the length of the pipe closed at one end of 25cm, what are the
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possible lengths of the open pipe? (Neglect end corrections and take the velocity of sound in air to
be 340 m/s).
Q.10. (a) Calculate the velocity of sound in a gas in which two waves of wave length 1 meter and 1.02
metre produce 20 beats in 3 sec.
(b) If the vibrations of a string of length 60m fixed at both ends are represented by
y = 4 sin (x/15) cos 96 t. Find the velocity of the particle at x = 7.5 cm at t = 0.25 sec ?
Q.11. A car while travelling produces noise of intensity level of 94 decibel. At a particular point on road
maximum permissible level of noise is 100 decibels. Find how many such identical cars can be
allowed to pass through that point simultaneously if sound waves emitted by all cars are in same
phase at that point ?
Q.12. A sonometer wire resonates with a given tuning fork forming standing waves with five antinodes
between the two bridges when a mass of 9 kg is suspended from the wire. When this mass is
replaced by a mass M, the wire resonates with same tuning fork forming three antinodes for the
same positions of the bridges. Find the value of M.
Q.13. Two tunning fork with natural frequencies ‘f’ Hz, moves relative to a necessary observer. One fork
moves away from the observer while other moves towards him at the same speed. The observer
hears the beat frequency of ‘3Hz’. Find the speed of tunning fork in terms of P speed of sound.
Q.14. Two persons A and B each carrying a source of sound of frequency 600Hz are standing a few
meters apart in a quiet field. Calculate the ratio of the beat frequencies heard by A and B when A
moves towards B with a velocity of 3 m/s. Velocity of sound in air = 340 m/s.
Q.15. A wire having a linear density of 0.5 gm/cm is stretched between two rigid supports with a tension of
450N. It is observed that the wire resonates at a frequency of 420Hz. Find the length of the wire if
the next higher frequency at which the wire resonates is 490Hz.
Q.16. An organ pipe P1 closed at one end vibrating in its third harmonic and another pipe P2 open at the
both ends vibrating in its first harmonic are in resonance with a given tuning fork. Find the ratio of
the length of P1 to that of P2.
Q.17. A string of length L and Mass M hangs freely from a fixed point. Calculate
(a) The velocity of the transverse wave along the string at any position.
(b) Time taken by a transverse pulse to traverse the string.
Q.18. A source ‘S’ of sound emitting waves at S
360 Hz is placed in front of a vertical wall,
at a distance 2m as shown in figure.
Detector D receives waves from two 2m
x
different paths SD and SOD. Find the O
minimum distance between the source
and the detector for which the detector
detects a maximum of sound. Take D
speed of sound in air = 360 m/s.
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Q.19. A taut strings for which = 5.00 10-2 kg / m is under a tension of 80.0 N. How much power must
be supplied to the string to generate sinusoidal waves at a frequency of 60.0 Hz and amplitude of
6.00 cm.
Q.20. An engine driver moving towards a wall with velocity of 50 m/s emits a note of frequency
1.2 kHz. What is the frequency of note after reflection from the wall as heard by the engine driver
when speed of sound in air is 350 m/s.
Q.21. If the incident wave is given y = A sin(t kx) write the equation of reflected wave for reflection from
a denser medium and reflection from rarer medium.
Q.22. A sound wave of 40 cm wavelength
enters the tube as shown in the figure. r
What must be the smallest radius r
such that a minimum will be heard at
the deletion?
Q.23. A taut strings for which = 5.00 10-2 kg / m is under a tension of 80.0 N. How much power must
be supplied to the string to generate sinusoidal waves at a frequency of 60.0 Hz and amplitude of
6.00 cm.
Q.24. A uniform rope of length and mass m hangs vertically from a rigid support. A block of mass M
attached to the free end of the rope. Find the wavelength of the pulse when it reaches the top of
the rope in terms of bottom, m and M.
Q.25. A train P crosses a station with speed 20 ms1 and whistles a short pulse of natural frequency n0 =
1570 Hz at t = 0. Another train B is approaching towards the same station with retardation 8 ms2
along a parallel track. Two tracks are d = 99 m apart. When train A whistles, train B is 140 m away
from the station and listen the pulse at t = 0.5 sec. If the velocity of sound in air is v = 330 ms1,
calculate frequency of the pulse heard by driver of train B.
Q.26. The vibration of a string fixed at both ends are described by the equation
y = (5.00 mm) sin [(1.57 cm-1)x] sin [(314 s-1)t]. What is the maximum displacement of a particle at x
= 5.66 cm?
Q.27. A source of sonic oscillations with frequency f = 1800 Hz and a receiver are located at the same
point. At the moment t = 0 the source starts moving away from the receiver with constant
acceleration a = 10 m/s2. Assuming the velocity of sound to be equal to 340 m/s find the frequency
heard by the stationary receiver at t = 10 sec after the start of motion.
Q.28. Standing waves are produced by superposition of two waves y1 = 0.05 sin (3t - 2x) and
y2 = 0.05 sin (3t + 2x) where x and y are measured in metre and t in second. Find the amplitude of
the particle at x = 0.5 m.
Q.29. The displacement of the medium in a sound wave is given by the equation:
y = A cos (ax + bt) where A, a, b are +ve constants.
The wave is partially reflected by a denser medium at x = 0. The intensity of the reflected wave is
0.49 times that of the incident wave.
i) Write the equation for the reflected wave.
ii) Express the resultant wave as a superposition of a standing wave and a travelling wave.
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Q.30. A steel wire of length 1 m, mass 0.1 kg and uniform cross sectional area 10-6 m2 is rigidly fixed at
both ends. The temperature of the wire is lowered by 20°C. If transverse waves are set up by
plucking the string in the middle, calculate the frequency of fundamental mode of vibration. Young’s
modulus of steel = 2 x 1011 N/m2 and coefficient of linear expansion of steel = 1.21 x 10-5 C-1.
Given that change in length of a rod is related to change in temperature by the relation t = 0 (1 +
), where t is the length at temperature t, 0 is the length at any temperature, is the coefficient
of linear expansion and is the change in temperature.
Q.31. Two wires are fixed on a sonometer. Their tensions are in the ratio 8 : 1, their lengths are in the
ratio 36 : 35, the diameters are in the ratio 4 : 1 and densities are in the ratio 1 : 2. Find the
frequencies of the beats produced if the note of the higher pitch has a frequency of 360 per second.
Q.32. A progressive and a stationary simple harmonic wave each has the same frequency of 253 Hz, and
same velocity of 30 m/s. Calculate
(i) phase difference between two vibrating points on the progressive wave if the points are 100 cm
apart,
(ii) the equation of motion of the progressive wave if its amplitude is 0.03 m.
(iii) the equation of motion of the stationary wave if its amplitude is 0.01 m.
(iv) distance between nodes in the stationary wave.
Q.33. The vibrations of a string of length 60 cm fixed at both ends is given by the equation
y = 4 sin(x/15) cos (96t) where x and y are in cm and t in seconds.
Find (a) the time when the string has zero potential energy.
(b) the particle velocity at the origin at t = 1/4 s
(c) the amplitude of a point at x = 5
(d) the location of antinodes among the string.
Q.34. A uniform rope of length 12 m and mass 3 kg hang’s vertically from a rigid support. A block of mass
1 kg is attached to the free end of the rope. A transverse pulse of wavelength
0.08 m produced at the lower end of the rope. What is the wavelength of the pulse when it reaches
the top of the rope? [g=10m/s2]
Q.35. Two tunning forks ‘A’ and ‘B’ give six beats per second. ‘A’ resonates with a closed column of air
15 cm long & B with an open column 30.5 cm long both in fundamental mode. Calculate their
frequencies.
Q.36. A metallic rod of length 1m is rigidly clamped at one of its end. The other end of the rod is free.
Longitudinal stationary waves are set up in the rod in such a way that there are total six antinodes
observed along the rod. The amplitude of an antinode is 4 10–6 m. Young’s modulus and density
of the rod are 6.4 1010 N/m2 and 4 103 Kg/m3 respectively. Find
(i) the wavelength of the constituent waves
(ii) the frequency of the constituent waves
(iii) the equation of the motion at the mid point of the rod
(iv) the equations of the constituent waves .
Q.37. Prove that the fundamental frequency of an open pipe would be independent of small variation in
1
temperature at a temperature T0 = , where is the coefficient of linear expansion of the material
2
of the tube.
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Q.38. The equation of a travelling plane sound wave has the form y = 60 cos(1800t 5.3 x), where y is
expressed in micrometer, t in second, and x in metre. Find:
(a) the ratio of the displacement amplitude, with which the particles of medium oscillate, to the
wavelength;
(b) the velocity oscillation amplitude of particles of the medium and its ratio to the wave propagation
velocity;
Q.39. At t = 0, a source of sonic oscillations S and y
an observer 'O' start moving along x & y
100 m
axis with velocity 5m/s î and 10 m/s ĵ
S x
respectively. The figure gives their position
at t = 0. The frequency of sonic oscillations 100 m
at source is 100 Hz. Obtain the frequency
of signals received by the observer right at
O
the moment when source crosses origin.
(velocity of sound in air = 330 m/s)
Q.40. A metallic rod of length 1 m is rigidly clamped at its mid point. Longitudinal stationary waves are
setup in the rod in such a way that there are two nodes on either side of the mid point. The
amplitude of an antinode is 2 106 m. Write the equation of motion at a point 2 cm from the mid
point and those of the constituent waves in the rod. (Young's modulus =
2 1011 N/m2, density = 8000 kg/m3). Take the origin at left end of the rod and at t = 0 all particles
are at their mean position.
Q. 41. A source of sound with natural frequency f Hz moves uniformly along a straight line separated from
a stationary observer by distance l metre. The velocity of the source is equal to fraction of velocity
of sound. Find the frequency of the sound received by the observer at the moment when the sound
gets closest to him.
Q.42. A wave pulse starts propagating in the +x direction along a non-uniform wire of length 10 m with
mass per unit length given by m = m0 + x and under a tension of 100 N. Find the time taken by
the pulse to travel from the lighter end (x = 0) to the heavier end. (m0 = 10-2 kg/m and = 9 10-3
kg / m2
Q.43. A uniform string is clamped at x = 0and x = Land is vibrating in its fundamental mode. Mass per unit
length of the string is , tension in it is T and the maximum displacement of its midpoint is A. Find
the total energy stored in the string. Assume A to be small so that changes in tension and length of
the string can be ignored.
Q.44. A wave y = 30 cos(1800t – 5.3x),travels in air of density = 1.3 kg / m3 where y is expressed in
micrometer, t in sec., and x in meter. Calculate the absolute intensity in w/m2 and relative intensity
level in db.
Q.45. Two trains A and B simultaneously start moving along parallel tracks from a station along same
direction. A starts with constant acceleration 2ms2 from rest, while B with the same acceleration
but with initial velocity of 40 ms1, 20 second after the start, passenger of A hears whistle of B. If
frequency of whistle is 1194 Hz and velocity of sound in air is 322ms1. Calculate frequency
observed by the passenger.
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Q.46. Two narrow cylindrical pipes A and B have the same length. Pipe A is open at both ends and is
filled with a monoatomic gas of molar mass MA. Pipe B is open at one end and closed at the other
end, and is filled with a diatomic gas of molar mass MB. Both gases are at the same temperature.
(a) If the frequency of the second harmonic of the fundamental mode in pipe A is equal to the
frequency of the third harmonic of the fundamental mode in pipe B, determine the value of
M A MB .
(b) Now the open end of pipe B is also closed (so that the pipe is closed at both ends). Find the
ratio of the fundamental frequency in pipe A to that in pipe B.
Q.47. A light string is tied at one end to a fixed support and to a A 9
heavy string of equal length L at other end as shown in
figure. Mass per unit length of the strings is and 9 L L
and the tension is T. Find the minimum possible value of
frequency such that the point A is antinode.
Q.48. An organ pipe open at both ends sounds in unison a tuning fork at 200C. When the fork and the
pipe are sounded together at 300C, 5 beats per second are heard. Determine the frequency of the
fork assuming that fork frequency is not affected by the temperature change.
Q.49. A source of sound of frequency 256 Hz is moving towards a wall with a velocity of
5 m/s. How many beats per second will be heard by observer which is stationary between
sound source and wall if sound travels at a speed of 330 m/sec.?
Q.50. In the atmosphere of a certain planet there are only hydrogen and oxygen gases in the mass ratio
1:8 respectively. Two astronauts A and B, each having a vibrating tunning fork of frequency 200
Hz are on the surface of the planet. A is stationary and B is moving towards A with constant
velocity. If B detects 1 beat per second, find his speed. The temperature of the atmosphere
near the surface of the planet is 27°C.
Q.51. The vibration of a string fixed at both ends are described by the equation
y = 50 cm Sin [(1.57 cm-1)x] Sin [(314 s-1)t]
(a) What is the maximum displacement of a particle at x = 5.66 cm.
(b) What are the wavelength and the wave speeds of the two transverse waves that combine to
give above vibration?
(c) What is the velocity of the particle at x = 5.66 cm at t = 2s.
(d) if the length of the string is 10 cm, locate the nodes and antinodes. How many loops are formed
in the vibrations?
Q.52. A small sources of sound moves in a circle of P
radius r with constant speed v s. Let the
frequency of the source is 450 Hz. For the r
indicated positions P, O, Q of three different O S
r
observers, find the frequency heard by the r
observers. Take the position of source as ‘S’
and velocity of source is vs = v/42, where v is
Q
the velocity of sound of in air.
Q.53. We know that velocity of a wave travelling along a stretched string is given by T / where T is the
tension in the string and is the mass per unit length of the string. Find the time taken by the wave
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travelling along a vertically suspended string of mass 'm' and length'' from the free end to the fixed
end.
Q.54. The displacement of the medium in a sound wave is given by the equation:
y = A cos (ax + bt) where A, a, b are +ve constants.
The wave is partially reflected by a denser medium at x = 0. The intensity of the reflected wave is
0.49 times that of the incident wave.
i) Write the equation for the reflected wave.
ii) Express the resultant wave as a superposition of a standing wave and a travelling wave.
iii) What are the positions of the antinodes of the standing wave?
iv) In the resultant wave formed after reflection find the maximum value of the particle speed in
the medium.
Q.55. A pipe of length 1.5 m closed at one end is filled with a gas and it resonates in its fundamental
mode with a tunning fork. Another pipe of the same length but open at both ends is filled with air
and it resonates in its fundamental mode with the same tuning fork. Calculate the velocity of sound
at 00C in the gas, given that the velocity of sound in air is 360 m/sec at 300C, where the experiment
is performed.
Q.56. A sonometer wire of total length 220 cm is stretched with tension T and fixed at both ends. The
wire is decided into three segments by placing two bridges below it segments by placing two
bridges below it where shoued the bridges be placed so that the fundamental frequency of the
segment are in the ratio 2 : 4: 6.
Q.57. A boat is traveling in a river with a speed 10m/s along the stream flowing with a speed 2 m/s. From
this boat, a sound transmitter is lowered into the river through a rigid support. The wavelength of the
sound emitted from the transmitter inside the water is 14.45 mm. Assume that attenuation of sound
in water and air is negligible.
(a) What will be the frequency detected by a receiver kept inside the river downstream?
(b) The transmitter and the receiver are now pulled up into air. The air is blowing with a speed 5 m/s
in the direction opposite the river stream. Determine the frequency of the sound detected by
the receiver.
(Temperature of the air and water = 200C; Density of river water = 103 Kg/m3; Bulk modulus of the
water = 2.088 x 109 Pa; Gas constant R = 8.31 J/mol-K; Mean molecular mass of air = 28.8 x 10-3
Kg/mol; CP/CV for air = 1.4)
Q.58. The displacement of the medium in a sound wave is given by the equation:
y = A cos (ax + bt) where A, a, b are +ve constants.
The wave is partially reflected by a denser medium at x = 0. The intensity of the reflected wave is
0.49 times that of the incident wave.
(i) Write the equation for the reflected wave.
(ii) Express the resultant wave as a superposition of a standing wave and a travelling wave.
(iii) What are the positions of the antinodes of the standing wave?
(iv) In the resultant wave formed after reflection find the maximum value of the particle speed in the
medium.
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Q.59. A wire of valuable mass per unit length = 0x,
where x is distance from bottom end is hanging
from the ceiling as shown in figure. The length of
wire is 0. A small transverse disturbance is
produced at its lower end. Find the time after
which the disturbance will reach to the other end.
Q.60. A train approaching a hill at a speed of 40 km/hr sounds a whistle of frequency 580 Hz. When it is
at a distance of 1 km from a hill, a wind with a speed of 40 km/hr is blowing in the direction of
motion of the train find
(a) the frequency of the whistle as heard by an observer on the hill.
(b) the distance from the hill at which the echo from the hill is heard by the driver and its frequency.
(Velocity of sound in air = 1200 km/hr.)
