Basic Properties

Practice Problems
Basic Properties of Sound

Directions: On this worksheet, you will be able to test yourself on basic principles involving sound.

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Question 1 A violinist and a pianist simultaneously sound notes with frequencies of 341 hz and 345 hz, respectively. How many beats will be heard by the musicians and at what pitch?

3.2 beats at 344.2 hz2 beats at 343 hz114.3 beats at 2 hz4 beats at 343 hz

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Question 2 Two identical strings on different cellos are tuned to 437-hz note. The peg holding one of the strings slips, so its tension is decreased by 4.2%. What is the new frequency heard on the second cello?

427.7 hz446.5 hz358.2 hz418.6 hz

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Question 3 At a baseball game on a cool day (air temperature of 11°C), a fan hears the crack of the bat 2.1 seconds after observing a batter hit a ball. How far is the fan from home plate?

718.2 meters354.5 meters681.2 meters709 meters

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Question 4 A person holds a rifle horizontally and fires at target. The bullet has a muzzle velocity of 408 m/s, and the person hears the bullet strike the target 2.1 seconds after firing it. The air temperature is 11°C. What is the distance to the target?

856.8 meters428.4 meters709 meters4108.7 meters388 meters

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Question 5 A sound wave with a frequency of 11 hz is in what region of the sound spectrum?

subsonicsupersonicinfrasonicultrasonicaudible

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Question 6 You are watching a distant neighbor re-roof his house one cold morning when the air temperature is 11ºC. As you watch, he pounds a roofing nail at a regular interval of 4 times each second. You hear the sound of the blows exactly synchronized with the blows you see. After he stops hammering, you hear 6 more blows, how far away is the neighbor's roof from your window?

506 m225 m264 m2026 m

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Question 7 The driver of a 18-wheeler parked on a desert highway gives his truck's horn a quick blast toward a rocky messa that is 1.6 kilometers away. If he hears an echo 9.2 seconds later, what is the approximate air temperature at his location?

26.2º C24.0º C28.0º C36.8º C

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Question 8 A ship surveying the ocean bottom sends sonar waves straight down into the sea water from the surface. The first reflection off the mud surface at the sea floor occurs 1.72 seconds after it was sent; while the second reflection off the bedrock at the bottom of the mud layer is received after 2.58 seconds. If the speed of sound in sea water is 1526 m/sec and the speed of sound in mud is 1895 m/sec, then how thick is the mud layer?

815 m180 m2445 m1132 m