Calculating Sound Power: I=P/A & Dependency on Area

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mahathir
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Area Power Sound
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on calculating sound power using the formula I = P/A, where A represents the cross-sectional area. Sound power is defined as the total energy radiated by a sound source, while sound intensity measures how concentrated that power is at a specific location. To calculate sound power, one needs specific data, and ideal conditions, such as an omnidirectional speaker in a sound chamber, are rarely met in practice. The relationship between intensity and distance shows that intensity decreases with the square of the distance from the sound source. Overall, measuring sound power accurately requires comprehensive information and controlled conditions.
Mahathir
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Homework Statement
Is there any formula for calculating sound power? What does the A mean in I=P/A? Is the power of sound dependent on the area of its surrounding or something. I want to know if there's an equation for P like there's I=2π²a²f²ρv.
Relevant Equations
I=2π²a²f²ρv
Is there any formula for calculating sound power? What does the A mean in I=P/A? Is the power of sound dependent on the area of its surrounding or something. I want to know if there's an equation for P like there's I=2π²a²f²ρv.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Mahathir said:
What does the A mean in I=P/A?

That looks like the intensity formula, where the A is cross-sectional area: Intensity = Power/Area
 
  • Like
Likes berkeman
Mahathir said:
Is there any formula for calculating sound power?
From what given variables?
 
Can anyone tell me how to calculate the sound power of infrared rays and ultrasound rays and its unit is in db or dB
 
sound4haudio said:
Can anyone tell me how to calculate the sound power of infrared rays and ultrasound rays and its unit is in db or dB
Infrared is to do with light, not sound.
As I responded to Mahathir, you need some data from which to calculate the power. The method depends on which data you have.

There is no db, only dB. This can be used for relative power in any context, not just sound.

For sound specifically, see if https://www.noisehelp.com/decibel-scale.html helps.
 
Sound power is the total energy radiated by a sound source in all directions.
Sound Intensity (I) is a measure of how "concentrated" the sound power is in a particular place.

Lets say you have an omnidirectional speaker that emits sound power P uniformly in all directions and the surroundings are "ideal" so there are no reflective surfaces etc. Then consider an imaginary sphere surrounding the speaker at some distance R. The sphere has area A = 4piR^2. Under ideal conditions all of the sound power would emerge uniformly through the surface of the sphere. The intensity at the surface of the sphere would be I = P/A or P/(4piR^2). So in this ideal example the intensity reduces in proportion to R^2.

If you have access to a sound chamber in which to set up such ideal conditions then you could use a sound meter to measure the intensity I at a point R and use the equation above to calculate the sound power P.

However such ideal conditions rarely exist. The sound source is unlikely to be omnidirectional and there may l be reflective surfaces (such as the ground) that changes with the way the sound propagates so that it's not proportional to R^2. This means it's not simple to measure sound intensity at a point and work back to calculate the sound power. Much more information is needed. Whole books and papers are written on this subject.
 
Kindly see the attached pdf. My attempt to solve it, is in it. I'm wondering if my solution is right. My idea is this: At any point of time, the ball may be assumed to be at an incline which is at an angle of θ(kindly see both the pics in the pdf file). The value of θ will continuously change and so will the value of friction. I'm not able to figure out, why my solution is wrong, if it is wrong .
TL;DR Summary: I came across this question from a Sri Lankan A-level textbook. Question - An ice cube with a length of 10 cm is immersed in water at 0 °C. An observer observes the ice cube from the water, and it seems to be 7.75 cm long. If the refractive index of water is 4/3, find the height of the ice cube immersed in the water. I could not understand how the apparent height of the ice cube in the water depends on the height of the ice cube immersed in the water. Does anyone have an...
Back
Top