What happens to the air as the sound of the tuning fork travels towards the listener?

[physics_06er]

Hi there

Can someone please check if I have answered these correctly?

A tuning fork generates a pure tone at 523Hz (v=340m/s)

...Explain what happens to the air as the sound of the tuning fork travels towards the listener?...is it right to say that compressions and rarefractions take place which corresspond to max pressure and min press. respectively.

Also it asks to sketch a graph how the air pressure varies with time at the position of the listener...is this just a sine curve?

Thanks
physics_06er

 

[Hawknc]

Yes. Next. :p

 

[kyle8921]

Hello physics_06er,

Yes, you are correct in saying that as the sound of the tuning fork travels towards the listener, compressions and rarefactions occur in the air. These correspond to maximum and minimum pressure, respectively. As the tuning fork vibrates, it creates a series of compressions and rarefactions in the air molecules, which travel towards the listener at the speed of sound (340m/s in this case).

To sketch a graph of how the air pressure varies with time at the position of the listener, you can indeed use a sine curve. The graph will show a series of peaks and troughs, representing the maximum and minimum pressure points as the sound waves reach the listener. The frequency of the sine curve will be 523Hz, which is the same as the frequency of the tuning fork. This graph can also be called a pressure vs time graph, as it shows how the pressure in the air changes over time due to the sound waves created by the tuning fork.

I hope this helps! Keep up the good work in your studies of physics.
Best,

Scientist