Doppler Effect

Practice Problems
Doppler Effect

Directions: On this worksheet, you may assume that the speed of sound in air is 340 m/sec unless otherwise stated.

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Question 1 A 'clicker' is sounding at 12 Hz; if you are moving towards the 'clicker' at 17 m/sec what apparent frequency do you hear instead?

12.60 Hz3.53 Hz11.40 Hz20.47 Hz

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Question 2 You are riding a bike away from a street musician at 8.5 m/sec; when the trumpet player hits an 'A'. You know that the frequency of an 'A' should be 440 Hz, what apparent frequency do you hear instead?

447 Hz429 Hz451 Hz433 Hz

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Question 3 You are in an ambulance driving towards an accident at 33 m/sec. You hear the horns of the cars in the accident sounding at a frequency of 359 Hz, what is the actual frequency of the car horns.

324 Hz398 Hz327 Hz394 Hz

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Question 4 You are riding in a boat into oncoming waves and measure the frequency of the waves to be 17 crests every 10 seconds. Shortly afterwards you come to rest on the water and measure the waves to have an actual frequency of 7 every 10 seconds with a wave speed of 11 m/sec. How fast was your boat traveling before?

3.2 m/sec37.7 m/sec15.7 m/sec7.7 m/sec

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Question 5 You are speeding away from a loud speaker. If the original frequency of 359 Hz is shifted to 326 Hz, what is your speed away from the speaker?

31 m/sec34 m/sec31.3 m/sec10 m/sec

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Question 6 You are measuring the speed of a projectile using sonar. If a frequency of 179.5 Hz is reflected back at 171 Hz, what is the speed of the projectile?

40.0 m/sec16.1 m/sec32.4 m/sec16.9 m/sec

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Question 7 In what direction was the projectile in Question 6 moving relative to the sonar device?

away from the sonarcannot be determinedtowards the sonar