Concept explainers
Some loudspeaker horns for outdoor concerts (at which the entire audience is seated on the ground) are wider vertically than horizontally. Use diffraction ideas to explain why this is more efficient at spreading the sound uniformly over the audience than either a square speaker horn or a horn that is wider horizontally than vertically. Would this still be the case if the audience were seated at different elevations, as in an amphitheater? Why or why not?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 36 Solutions
University Physics with Modern Physics Plus Mastering Physics with eText -- Access Card Package (14th Edition)
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Conceptual Physics (12th Edition)
Conceptual Physical Science (6th Edition)
Glencoe Physical Science 2012 Student Edition (Glencoe Science) (McGraw-Hill Education)
Essential University Physics (3rd Edition)
Introduction to Electrodynamics
Cosmic Perspective Fundamentals
- Figure P36.35 shows a radio-wave transmitter and a receiver separated by a distance d = 50.0 m and both a distance h = 35.0 m above the ground. The receiver can receive signals both directly from the transmitter and indirectly from signals that reflect from the ground. Assume the ground is level between the transmitter and receiver and a 180 phase shift occurs upon reflection. Determine the longest wavelengths that interfere (a) constructively and (b) destructively. Figure P36.35 Problems 35 and 36.arrow_forwardA riverside warehouse has several small doors facing the river. Two of these doors are open as shown in Figure P27.17. The walls of the warehouse are lined with sound-absorbing material. Two people stand at a distance L = 150 in from the wall with the open doors. Person A stands along a line passing through the midpoint between the open doors, and person B stands a distance y = 20 m to his side. A boat o the river sounds its horn. To person A, the sound is loud and clear. To person B, the sound is barely audible. The principal wavelength of the sound waves is 5.00 m. Assuming person B is at the position of the first minimum, determine the distance d between the doors, center to center.arrow_forwardAn effect analogous to two-slit interference can occur with sound waves, instead of light. In an open field, two speakers placed 1.30 m apart are powered by a single-function generator producing sine waves at 1200-Hz frequency. A student walks along a line 12.5 m away and parallel to the line between the speakers. She hears an alternating pattern of loud and quiet, due to constructive and destructive interference. What is (a) the wavelength of this sound and (b) the distance between the central maximum and the first maximum (loud) position along this line?arrow_forward
- A loudspeaker having a diaphragm that vibrates at 1250 Hz is traveling at 80 m/s directly toward a pair of holes in a very large wall in a region for which the speed of sound is 344 m/s. You observe that the sound coming through the openings first cancels at 11.4 deg with respect to the original direction of the speaker when observed far from the wall. How far apart are the two openings? What angles would the sound first cancel if the source stopped moving?arrow_forwardthe thickness of human hair is to be measured using the interference pattern produced by an air wedge. red light with a wavelength of 638nm is used on an air wedge that is 25.0cm long. If 10 bright fringes are counted across 1.06cm in the air wedge, what is the thickness of the hairarrow_forwardhigh-frequency sound waves exhibit less diffraction than low-frequency sound waves do. However, even high frequency sound waves exhibit much more diffraction under normal circumstances than do light waves that pass through the same opening. The highest frequency that a healthy ear can typically hear is 2.0 × 104 Hz. Assume that a sound wave with this frequency travels at 344 m/s and passes through a doorway that has a width of 0.95 m. (a) Determine the angle that locates the first minimum to either side of the central maximum in the diffraction pattern for the sound. (b) Suppose that yellow light (wavelength = 567 nm, in vacuum) passes through a doorway and that the first dark fringe in its diffraction pattern is located at the angle determined in part (a). How wide would this hypothetical doorway have to be?arrow_forward
- Waves from a radio station have a wavelength of 250 m. They travel by two paths to a home receiver 20.0 km from the transmitter. One path is a direct path, and the second is by reflection from a mountain directly behind the home receiver. What is the minimum distance from the mountain to the receiver that produces destructive interference at the receiver? (Assume that no phase change occurs on reflection from the mountain.)arrow_forwardA circular diaphragm 62.72 cm in diameter oscillates at a frequency of 15.97 kHz as an underwater source of sound used for submarine detection. Far from the source, the sound intensity is distributed as the diffraction pattern of a circular hole whose diameter equals that of the diaphragm. Take the speed of sound in water to be 1450. m/s, and find the angle (in degrees) between the normal to the diaphragm and a line from the diaphragm to the first minimum.arrow_forwardIn your summer internship at an optical products company, you need to measure the wavelength λ of the light that is produced by a laser. To do this, you pass the light from the laser through two narrow slits that are separated by a distance d. You observe the interference pattern on a screen that is 0.900 m from the slits and measure the separation Δy between the adjacent bright bangs in the part of the picture that is near the center of the screen Using a microscope, you measure d. However, both Δy and d are small and difficult to measure accurately, so you repeat the measurements for several pairs of slits, each with a different value of d. Your results appear in Figure P35.52, where you have plotted Δy as a function of 1/d. The line on the graph is the best straight line for the data. (a)Explain why data points drawn in this way are close to a straight line. (b) Use Figure P35.52 to calculate λ.arrow_forward
- A possible means for making an airplane invisible to radar is to coat the plane with an antireflective polymer. If radar waves have a wavelength of 2.52 cm and the index of refraction of the polymer is n = 1.46, how thick would you make the coating? (Assume that the index of refraction of the plane is higher than that of the coating. Also assume that the radar waves are normal to the surface of the coating. Give the minimum thickness that would make the airplane invisible to radar.)arrow_forwardA possible means for making an airplane invisible to radar is to coat the plane with an antireflective polymer. If radar waves have a wavelength of 2.68 cm and the index of refraction of the polymer is n = 1.72, how thick would you make the coating? (Assume that the index of refraction of the plane is higher than that of the coating. Also assume that the radar waves are normal to the surface of the coating. Give the minimum thickness that would make the airplane invisible to radar.)answer in cmarrow_forwardA speaker has a diameter of 0.30 m. (a) Assuming that the speed of sound is 343 m/s, find the diffraction angle u for a 2.0-kHz tone. (b) What speaker diameter D should be used to generate a 6.0-kHz tone whose diffraction angle is as wide as that for the 2.0-kHz tone in part (a)?arrow_forward
- Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based TextPhysicsISBN:9781133104261Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. JewettPublisher:Cengage LearningUniversity Physics Volume 3PhysicsISBN:9781938168185Author:William Moebs, Jeff SannyPublisher:OpenStaxPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Foundations...PhysicsISBN:9781133939146Author:Katz, Debora M.Publisher:Cengage Learning
- Physics for Scientists and EngineersPhysicsISBN:9781337553278Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. JewettPublisher:Cengage LearningPhysics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern ...PhysicsISBN:9781337553292Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. JewettPublisher:Cengage LearningCollege PhysicsPhysicsISBN:9781305952300Author:Raymond A. Serway, Chris VuillePublisher:Cengage Learning