A student investigator is measuring the speed of sound by looking at the time for a brief, sinusoidal pulse from a loudspeaker to travel down a tube, reflect from the closed end, and reach a microphone. The apparatus is as shown; typical data recorded by the microphone are graphed as shown. The first pulse is the sound directly from the loudspeaker; the second pulse is the reflection from the closed end. A portion of the returning wave reflects from the open end of the tube and makes another round trip before being detected by the microphone; this is the third pulse seen in the data.
What can you say about the reflection of sound waves at the ends of a tube?
A. Sound waves are inverted when reflected from both open and closed tube ends.
B. Sound waves are inverted when reflected from a closed end, not inverted when reflected from an open end.
C. Sound waves are inverted when reflected from an open end, not inverted when reflected from a closed end.
D. Sound waves are not inverted when reflected from either open or closed tube ends.
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