Physics Practice Questions - Sound and Waves

...a longitudinal wave has all of these

1) Unlike a transverse wave, a longitudinal wave has A) no amplitude. B) no frequency. C) no wavelength. D) no speed. E) ...a longitudinal wave has all of these.

2 hertz

10) A floating leaf oscillates up and down two complete cycles each second as a waterwave passes by. What is the wave's frequency? A) 0.5 hertz. B) 1 hertz. C) 2 hertz. D) 3 hertz. E) 6 hertz.

6 m/s

11) A wave travels an average distance of 6 meters in one second. What is the wave's velocity? A) less than 0.2 m/s. B) 1 m/s. C) 3 m/s. D) 6 m/s. E) more than 6 m/s.

10 m/s

12) A floating object oscillates up and down 2 complete cycles in 1 second as a water wave of wavelength 5 meters passes by. The speed of the wave is A) 2 m/s. B) 5 m/s. C) 10 m/s. D) 15 m/s. E) none of these.

vibrating

13) The source of every sound is something that is A) vibrating. B) moving. C) accelerating. D) undergoing simple harmonic motion. E) a net emitter of energy.

wavelength

14) Double the frequency of a sound and you halve its A) wavelength. B) speed. C) amplitude. D) all of these. E) none of these.

20 hertz to 20,000 hertz

15) The range of human hearing is from about A) 10 hertz to 10,000 hertz. B) 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz. C) 40 hertz to 40,000 hertz. D) actually all of these, depending on the person.

longitudinal wave

16) A sound wave is a A) longitudinal wave. B) transverse wave. C) standing wave. D) shock wave. E) none of these.

a vacuum

17) Sound waves cannot travel in A) air. B) water. C) steel. D) a vacuum. E) sound can travel in all of these.

1000 cycles per second

18) A wave having a frequency of 1000 hertz vibrates at A) less than 1000 cycles per second. B) 1000 cycles per second. C) more than 1000 cycles per second.

re-echoed sound

19) Reverberation is actually a case of A) sound interference. B) forced vibrations. C) re-echoed sound. D) resonance. E) none of these.

Sound

2) Which of the following is not a transverse wave? A) Sound. B) Light. C) Radio. D) All of these. E) None of these.

speed

20) The explanation for refraction must involve a change in A) frequency. B) wavelength. C) speed. D) all of these. E) none of these.

low

21) The frequencies of sound that carry farther in air are relatively A) low. B) high. C) no difference.

both of these

22) The natural frequency of an object depends on its A) elasticity. B) size and shape. C) both of these. D) neither of these.

small bell

23) The object with the higher natural frequency is a A) small bell. B) large bell.

resonance

24) Caruso is said to have made a crystal chandelier shatter with his voice.This is a demonstration of A) an echo. B) sound refraction. C) beats. D) resonance. E) interference.

Radio waves

25) Which doesn't belong to the same family? A) Infrasonic waves. B) Ultrasonic waves. C) Radio waves. D) Shock waves. E) Longitudinal waves.

amplitude

26) For AM radio, the A stands for A) acceleration. B) authorized. C) amplitude. D) agony. E) almost.

1 m

27) A 340-hertz sound wave travels at 340 m/s in air with a wavelength of A) 1 m. B) 10 m. C) 100 m. D) 1000 m. E) none of these.

ice

28) In which one of these does sound travel the fastest? A) water vapor. B) water. C) ice. D) steam. E) ...sound travels the same speed in each of these.

6 hertz

29) Beats are produced when two tuning forks, one of frequency 240 hertz and the other of frequency 246 hertz are sounded together. The frequency of the beats is A) 6 hertz. B) 12 hertz. C) 240 hertz. D) 245 hertz. E) none of these.

along the direction of wave travel

3) The vibrations of a longitudinal wave move in a direction A) along the direction of wave travel. B) at right angles to the direction of wave travel.

decreases

30) Repeatedly tap the side of a drinking glass with a spoon while filling it with water and you will notice that the pitch of the sound A) increases. B) decreases. C) remains relatively constant.

0

31) A piano tuner knows that a key on the piano is tuned to the frequency of his tuning fork when he strikes them at the same time and the number of beats he hears each second is A) 0. B) 1. C) 2. D) 3. E) 4.

frequency

32) The pitch of a musical sound depends on the sound wave's A) wavelength. B) frequency. C) speed. D) amplitude. E) all of these.

loudness

33) A decibel is a measure of a sound's A) frequency. B) wavelength. C) speed. D) loudness. E) all of these.

harmonics

34) The quality of a musical note has to do with its A) loudness. B) frequency. C) harmonics. D) amplitude. E) all of these.

shower

35) Reverberation is a phenomenon you would be most likely to hear if you sing in the A) shower. B) desert.

880 Hz

36) The frequency of a note one octave higher in pitch than a 440-Hz note is A) 1760 Hz. B) 880 Hz. C) 440 Hz. D) 220 Hz. E) 110 Hz.

the summation of a series of simple sine waves

37) Fourier discovered that periodic waves can be represented by A) a series of non-periodic waves. B) the summation of a series of simple sine waves. C) a binary code.

10 times as intense

38) Compared to a sound of 40 decibels, a sound of 50 decibels is A) 10 times as intense. B) 100 times as intense. C) 1000 times as intense. D) 10,000 times as intense. E) more than 10,000 times as intense.

330 m/s

39) A cello string 0.75 m long has a fundamental frequency of 220 hertz.The speed of a wave on the string is A) 165 m/s. B) 220 m/s. C) 294 m/s. D) 330 m/s. E) none of these.

3.0 m

4) Radio waves travel at the speed of light, 300,000 km/s. The wavelength of a radio wave received at 100 megahertz is A) 0.3 m. B) 3.0 m. C) 30 m. D) 300 m. E) none of these.

least amount of energy input

41) Resonance can be looked at as forced vibration with the A) least amount of energy input. B) maximum amount of energy input. C) matching of wave amplitudes. D) matching of constructive and destructive interference. E) minimum beat frequency.

faster in helium than in air

42) Inhaling helium increases the pitch of your voice. The reason for this is that sound travels A) slower in helium than in air. B) faster in helium than in air. C) the same speed in helium, but the wavelength is greater.

0.1 seconds

5) If the frequency of a certain wave is 10 hertz, its period is A) 0.1 seconds. B) 10 seconds. C) 100 seconds. D) none of these.

out of step

6) To say that one wave is out of phase with another is to say that the waves are A) of different amplitudes. B) of different frequencies. C) of different wavelengths. D) out of step. E) all of these.

a wave reflects upon itself

7) A standing wave occurs when A) two waves overlap. B) a wave reflects upon itself. C) the speed of the wave is zero or near zero. D) the amplitude of a wave exceeds its wavelength.

all of these

8) The Doppler effect is characteristic of A) water waves. B) sound waves. C) light waves. D) all of these. E) none of these.

greater than the speed of sound

9) An observer on the ground hears a sonic boom which is created by an airplane flying at a speed A) just below the speed of sound. B) equal to the speed of sound. C) greater than the speed of sound. D) all of these. E) none of these.