Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Sound with intensity larger than 120 dB appears pain full to a person. A small speaker delivers 2.0 W of audio output. How close can the person get to the speaker without hurting his ears?
Advertisements
Solution
Given:
The sound level that can hurt the human ear is 120 dB. Then, the intensity I is 1 W/m2.
Audio output of the small speaker P = 2 W
Let the closest distance be x.
We have:
\[I = \frac{P}{4\pi r^2}\]
\[\left( \frac{2}{4\pi x^2} \right) = 1\]
\[\Rightarrow x^2 = \left( \frac{2}{4\pi} \right)\]
\[ \Rightarrow x = 0 . 4 m = 40 \text { cm }\]
Hence, the closest distance of the human ear from the small speaker is 40 cm.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Explain what is Doppler effect in sound
The equation \[y = A \sin^2 \left( kx - \omega t \right)\]
represents a wave motion with
Two tuning forks vibrate with the same amplitude but the frequency of the first is double the frequency of the second. Which fork produces more intense sound in air?
A tuning fork sends sound waves in air. If the temperature of the air increases, which of the following parameters will change?
Two sound waves move in the same direction in the same medium. The pressure amplitudes of the waves are equal but the wavelength of the first wave is double the second. Let the average power transmitted across a cross section by the first wave be P1 and that by the second wave be P2. Then
A tuning fork of frequency 512 Hz is vibrated with a sonometer wire and 6 beats per second are heard. The beat frequency reduces if the tension in the string is slightly increased. The original frequency of vibration of the string is
A small source of sounds moves on a circle as shown in figure and an observer is sitting at O. Let \[v_1, v_2, v_3\] be the frequencies heard when the source is at A, B and C respectively.

The equation of a travelling sound wave is y = 6.0 sin (600 t − 1.8 x) where y is measured in 10−5 m, t in second and x in metre. (a) Find the ratio of the displacement amplitude of the particles to the wavelength of the wave. (b) Find the ratio of the velocity amplitude of the particles to the wave speed.
A sound wave frequency 100 Hz is travelling in air. The speed of sound in air is 350 m s−1. (a) By how much is the phase changed at a given point in 2.5 ms? (b) What is the phase difference at a given instant between two points separated by a distance of 10.0 cm along the direction of propagation?
At what temperature will the speed of sound be double of its value at 0°C?
A sources of sound operates at 2.0 kHz, 20 W emitting sound uniformly in all directions. The speed of sound in air is 340 m s−1 and the density of air is 1.2 kg m −3. (a) What is the intensity at a distance of 6.0 m from the source? (b) What will be the pressure amplitude at this point? (c) What will be the displacement amplitude at this point?
A source S and a detector D are placed at a distance d apart. A big cardboard is placed at a distance \[\sqrt{2}d\] from the source and the detector as shown in figure. The source emits a wave of wavelength = d/2 which is received by the detector after reflection from the cardboard. It is found to be in phase with the direct wave received from the source. By what minimum distance should the cardboard be shifted away so that the reflected wave becomes out of phase with the direct wave?

The first overtone frequency of a closed organ pipe P1 is equal to the fundamental frequency of a open organ pipe P2. If the length of the pipe P1 is 30 cm, what will be the length of P2?
Show that if the room temperature changes by a small amount from T to T + ∆T, the fundamental frequency of an organ pipe changes from v to v + ∆v, where \[\frac{∆ v}{v} = \frac{1}{2}\frac{∆ T}{T} .\]
A boy riding on a bicycle going at 12 km h−1 towards a vertical wall whistles at his dog on the ground. If the frequency of the whistle is 1600 Hz and the speed of sound in air is 330 m s−1, find (a) the frequency of the whistle as received by the wall (b) the frequency of the reflected whistle as received by the boy.
With propagation of longitudinal waves through a medium, the quantity transmitted is ______.
Which of the following statements are true for wave motion?
Equation of a plane progressive wave is given by `y = 0.6 sin 2π (t - x/2)`. On reflection from a denser medium its amplitude becomes 2/3 of the amplitude of the incident wave. The equation of the reflected wave is ______.
A transverse wave is represented by y = 2sin (ωt - kx) cm. The value of wavelength (in cm) for which the wave velocity becomes equal to the maximum particle velocity, will be ______.
