Laboratory Report
Hazel Guerrero, Kyle Iddoba, Matthew Jocson, Thea Lagman
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science, University of Santo Tomas
Espanya, Manila Philippines
Abstract Verification of the relationship between frequency of sound and its wavelength and the determination of the velocity and the speed of sound in different mediums was the main focus of this experiment. The speed of sound and its velocity was determined using the resonance tube apparatus and Kundt’s tube respectively. A vernier microphone was used to note the time interval between wavelengths. The results obtained on the second and third experiment gathered a minimal compared error compared to the first experiment.
Introduction
Sound is a longitudinal wave in a medium. Sound waves usually travel out in all directions from the source of sound, with an amplitude that depends on the direction and distance from the source.
A sound wave is a pressure disturbance that travels through a medium by means of particle-to-particle interaction. As one particle becomes disturbed, it exerts a force on the next adjacent particle, thus disturbing that particle from rest and transporting the energy through the medium. Like any wave, the speed of a sound wave refers to how fast the disturbance is passed from particle to particle. While frequency refers to the number of vibrations that an individual particle makes per unit of time, speed refers to the distance that the disturbance travels per unit of time.
The speed of any wave depends upon the properties of the medium through which the wave is traveling. The phase of matter has a tremendous impact upon the elastic properties of the medium. In general, solids have the strongest interactions between particles, followed by liquids and then gases. For this reason, longitudinal sound waves travel faster in solids than they do in liquids than they do in gases.
The objectives of this experiment is to
References: 1.) http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/u11l2c.cfm 2.) http://www.transtutors.com/physics-homework-help/sound/velocity-of-sound.aspx 3.) Young, H., Freedman, R. (2004). University Physics with Modern Physics. California: McGraw-Hill.