Table 17.2 Sound Intensity Levels and Intensities Sound intensity level ß (dB) Intensity /(W/m?) Exampleleffect 1x10-12 Threshold of hearing at 1000 Hz 10 1x10-11 Rustle of leaves 20 1x10-10 Whisper at 1 m distance 30 1x10-9 Quiet home 40 1x10-8 Average home 50 1x10-7 Average office, soft music 60 1x10-6 Normal conversation 70 1x10-5 Noisy office, busy traffic 80 1x104 Loud radio, classroom lecture 90 1x10–3 Inside a heavy truck; damage from prolonged exposure4 100 1x10-2 Noisy factory, siren at 30 m; damage from 8 h per day exposure 110 1x10-' Damage from 30 min per day exposure 120 1 Loud rock concert, pneumatic chipper at 2 m; threshold of pain 140 1x10² Jet airplane at 30 m; severe pain, damage in seconds 160 1x104 Bursting of eardrums
Properties of sound
A sound wave is a mechanical wave (or mechanical vibration) that transit through media such as gas (air), liquid (water), and solid (wood).
Quality Of Sound
A sound or a sound wave is defined as the energy produced due to the vibrations of particles in a medium. When any medium produces a disturbance or vibrations, it causes a movement in the air particles which produces sound waves. Molecules in the air vibrate about a certain average position and create compressions and rarefactions. This is called pitch which is defined as the frequency of sound. The frequency is defined as the number of oscillations in pressure per second.
Categories of Sound Wave
People perceive sound in different ways, like a medico student takes sound as vibration produced by objects reaching the human eardrum. A physicist perceives sound as vibration produced by an object, which produces disturbances in nearby air molecules that travel further. Both of them describe it as vibration generated by an object, the difference is one talks about how it is received and other deals with how it travels and propagates across various mediums.
Calculate the sound intensity level in decibels for a sound wave traveling in air at 0ºC and having a pressure amplitude of 0.656 Pa.
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