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 343 hz and 347 hz, respectively. How many beats will be heard by the musicians and at what pitch?

115 beats at 2 hz4 beats at 345 hz2 beats at 345 hz3.2 beats at 346.2 hz

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Question 2 Two identical strings on different cellos are tuned to 436-hz note. The peg holding one of the strings slips, so its tension is decreased by 6.9%. What is the new frequency heard on the second cello?

458.1 hz420.7 hz451.9 hz405.9 hz

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Question 3 At a baseball game on a cool day (air temperature of 14°C), a fan hears the crack of the bat 3.45 seconds after observing a batter hit a ball. How far is the fan from home plate?

1170.9 meters1113 meters585.5 meters1190.2 meters

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Question 4 A person holds a rifle horizontally and fires at target. The bullet has a muzzle velocity of 490 m/s, and the person hears the bullet strike the target 3.45 seconds after firing it. The air temperature is 14°C. What is the distance to the target?

845.2 meters691.8 meters1690.5 meters3809.8 meters1170.9 meters

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Question 5 A sound wave with a frequency of 14 hz is in what region of the sound spectrum?

infrasonicsupersonicaudibleultrasonicsubsonic

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Question 6 You are watching a distant neighbor re-roof his house one cold morning when the air temperature is 14ºC. As you watch, he pounds a roofing nail at a regular interval of 2 times each second. You hear the sound of the blows exactly synchronized with the blows you see. After he stops hammering, you hear 4 more blows, how far away is the neighbor's roof from your window?

170 m1358 m112 m679 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 1.7 kilometers away. If he hears an echo 9.8 seconds later, what is the approximate air temperature at his location?

27.2º C36.8º C26.3º C26.6º 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 1.75 seconds after it was sent; while the second reflection off the bedrock at the bottom of the mud layer is received after 2.96 seconds. If the speed of sound in sea water is 1536 m/sec and the speed of sound in mud is 1879 m/sec, then how thick is the mud layer?

1137 m1437 m93 m2781 m