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 17 Hz; if you are moving towards the 'clicker' at 19 m/sec what apparent frequency do you hear instead?

17.95 Hz32.21 Hz16.05 Hz1.79 Hz

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Question 2 You are riding a bike away from a street musician at 9.5 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?

433 Hz428 Hz447 Hz452 Hz

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Question 3 You are in an ambulance driving towards an accident at 41 m/sec. You hear the horns of the cars in the accident sounding at a frequency of 275 Hz, what is the actual frequency of the car horns.

308 Hz242 Hz313 Hz245 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 19 crests every 10 seconds. Shortly afterwards you come to rest on the water and measure the waves to have an actual frequency of 12 every 10 seconds with a wave speed of 13.7 m/sec. How fast was your boat traveling before?

5.3 m/sec23.5 m/sec8.0 m/sec35.4 m/sec

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Question 5 You are speeding away from a loud speaker. If the original frequency of 275 Hz is shifted to 234 Hz, what is your speed away from the speaker?

8 m/sec29 m/sec60 m/sec50.7 m/sec

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Question 6 You are measuring the speed of a projectile using sonar. If a frequency of 137.5 Hz is reflected back at 128 Hz, what is the speed of the projectile?

31.7 m/sec35.8 m/sec23.5 m/sec25.2 m/sec

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

cannot be determinedaway from the sonartowards the sonar