Propagation of Sound Waves
Physics · 50 practice questions
Necessity for a material medium; speed of sound in solids, liquids and air; effects of temperature and pressure on speed of sound; reflection of sound — echoes and reverberation and their applications, advantages and disadvantages.
- Determine the need for a material medium in sound propagation.
- Compare the speed of sound in solids, liquids and air.
- Relate temperature and pressure to the speed of sound.
- Solve problems on echoes, reverberation and speed of sound.
Try a few questions
- Practice question 1
A megaphone works by using a cone shape to
- A.completely absorb the sound waves produced by the speaker
- B.convert sound waves directly into electromagnetic waves
- C.help direct sound waves more efficiently toward a listener
- D.reduce the overall loudness of the sound produced
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C. help direct sound waves more efficiently toward a listener
The megaphone's cone shape channels sound energy in a more focused direction, effectively increasing perceived loudness there.
- Practice question 2
Sound waves cannot travel through outer space, since space is, to a very close approximation,
- A.filled entirely with a very dense, sound-conducting gas
- B.a vacuum containing essentially no matter
- C.a medium identical in density to the earth's atmosphere
- D.a region where sound travels even faster than in air
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B. a vacuum containing essentially no matter
Without a material medium of particles, as in the near-vacuum of space, mechanical waves like sound simply cannot propagate.
- Practice question 3
A vacuum flask experiment, in which a ringing alarm clock's sound fades as air is pumped out of a bell jar, mainly demonstrates that
- A.sound can travel through a perfect vacuum
- B.light requires a material medium to propagate
- C.sound waves are a type of electromagnetic wave
- D.sound requires a material medium to propagate
Show the answer
D. sound requires a material medium to propagate
As the medium (air) is removed, sound has less and less to travel through, eventually fading to silence.
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