Chapter 35, Problem 35.57PP

INTERFERENCE AND SOUND WAVES. Interference occurs with not only light waves but also all frequencies of electromagnetic waves and all other types of waves, such as sound and water waves. Suppose that your physics professor sets up two sound speakers in the front of your classroom and uses an electronic oscillator to produce sound waves of a single frequency. When she turns the oscillator on (take this to be its original setting), you and many students hear a loud tone while other students hear nothing. (The speed of sound in air is 340 m/s.)

35.57    The professor then adjusts the apparatus. The frequency that you hear does not change, but the loudness decreases. Now all of your fellow students can hear the tone. What did the professor do? (a) She turned off the oscillator. (b) She turned down the volume of the speakers. (c) She changed the phase relationship of the speakers. (d) She disconnected one speaker.