Practice Sound in Physics

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

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Quick Recap

A longitudinal mechanical wave that travels through a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) via alternating compressions and rarefactions of particles.

Vibrating air that your ears detect. No medium, no sound (space is silent).

Showing a random 20 of 50 problems.

Example 1

medium
Why does a sound seem to fade and vanish as a spacecraft leaves the atmosphere into space?

Example 2

easy
A tuning fork vibrates at 256 Hz256 \text{ Hz}. How many compressions does it send out each second?

Example 3

challenge
A guitar string of length 0.65 m0.65 \text{ m} has fundamental frequency f1=440 Hzf_1 = 440 \text{ Hz}. Find the wave speed on the string, then the wavelength and frequency of the second harmonic (n=2n=2).

Example 4

medium
A wave has period T=0.004 sT = 0.004 \text{ s}. Using v=340 m/sv = 340 \text{ m/s}, find frequency and wavelength.

Example 5

easy
A sound wave has frequency 200 Hz and wavelength 1.7 m. Find its speed.

Example 6

easy
A sound wave has speed 340 m/s340 \text{ m/s} and frequency 1700 Hz1700 \text{ Hz}. Find its wavelength.

Example 7

easy
Which sound property does frequency control: pitch or loudness?

Example 8

medium
A sonar pulse is sent from a ship and the echo returns 0.8 s0.8 \text{ s} later. The speed of sound in seawater is 1500 m/s1500 \text{ m/s}. How deep is the ocean floor at that point?

Example 9

easy
Sound is what type of wave: transverse or longitudinal?

Example 10

medium
A sound pulse takes 1.2 s1.2 \text{ s} to travel from the source to a wall and return. Using v=340 m/sv = 340 \text{ m/s}, find the wall's distance.

Example 11

easy
Which sound property does amplitude control: pitch or loudness?

Example 12

medium
A sound wave has frequency 170 Hz and wavelength 2 m. Find its speed.

Example 13

medium
A person shouts toward a cliff and hears the echo 4 s4 \text{ s} later. How far is the cliff? Use v=340 m/sv = 340 \text{ m/s}.

Example 14

medium
Sound travels at 343 m/s. How far does it travel in 3 s?

Example 15

hard
Two speakers play identical tones at 340 Hz340 \text{ Hz} in phase. A listener stands so the path difference is 0.5 m0.5 \text{ m}. Using v=340 m/sv = 340 \text{ m/s}, find the wavelength and predict whether the listener hears constructive or destructive interference.

Example 16

easy
A loudspeaker produces a louder note without changing pitch. Which wave property changed?

Example 17

easy
Can sound travel through a vacuum?

Example 18

medium
Sound in steel is about 5960 m/s5960 \text{ m/s}. Express this as a multiple of the air speed 340 m/s340 \text{ m/s} (one decimal).

Example 19

medium
A diver hears a boat engine 0.4 s0.4 \text{ s} after the surface; in air, the same sound from the same boat would reach a swimmer 1.5 s1.5 \text{ s} later. Using vair=340 m/sv_\text{air} = 340 \text{ m/s}, find the swimmer's distance and the diver's distance using vwater=1500 m/sv_\text{water} = 1500 \text{ m/s}.

Example 20

medium
Sound travels 1480 m/s in water. A sonar pulse returns from the seabed 0.5 s after emission. Find the seabed depth.
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