Why does the soundwave reach its maximum at 3.5ms and a distance of 0.157m?

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In summary,The stopper is started at the exact moment when the wave is at its minimum, call it -A. After 3.5ms and 0.157m from the point of origin, the wave has reached its maximum, A. According to my reasoning, the wave has reached 0 at that time. It takes the 2ms to reach minimum again and then with the remaining 1.5ms it reaches 0 with the first 0.5ms, then the maximum after 1ms and then 0 again after 1.5ms, but this is incorrect.
  • #1
nuuskur
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Given a soundwave with wavelength ##\lambda = 0,628 m## and a period ##T = 2 ms##.
The stopper is started at the exact moment when the wave is at its minimum, call it ##-A##. After ##3.5ms## and ##0,157m## from the point of origin, the wave has reached its maximum, ##A##.

Why is it so?
According to my reasoning the wave has reached 0 at that time. It takes the ##2ms## to reach minimum again and then with the remaining ##1.5ms## it reaches 0 with the first ##0.5ms##, then the maximum after ##1ms## and then 0 again after ##1.5ms##, but this is incorrect.

Edit: I would understand if we were given just the distance it has traveled in which case it would have traveled exactly a fourth from the point of origin and therefore reaching its maximum, but then why the ##3.5ms##?
 
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  • #2
think of the appearance of the wave, say it moves towards you, particles are propagating along y direction. When you are at 0.157m away, at t=0, you should see this point is y=0. After 0.5ms, the particle will have y= -A, then after 1ms, the particle will have y=A. Then after one more period, 2ms, that is totally 3.5ms, that particle will have y=A, which is maximum.
so it seems that it has no problem.

Edit: sound wave is not transfer wave, but I used transfer wave to explain, but they should have same result.
 
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  • #3
sunmaggot said:
think of the appearance of the wave, say it moves towards you, particles are propagating along y direction. When you are at 0.157m away, at t=0, you should see this point is y=0. After 0.5ms, the particle will have y= -A, then after 1ms, the particle will have y=A. Then after one more period, 2ms, that is totally 3.5ms, that particle will have y=A, which is maximum.
so it seems that it has no problem.

Edit: sound wave is not transfer wave, but I used transfer wave to explain, but they should have same result.
Doesn't it say at t=0 y=-A?
 
  • #4
nuuskur said:
Doesn't it say at t=0 y=-A?
that one is for particle position at stopper, but remember that 0.157m? the position 0.157m away from stopper has particle at y=0 when t=0
 
  • #5
You can just use the formula for the phase, no need to guess.
You have [tex]\phi =\omega t - k x =2 \pi (\frac{t}{T}-\frac{x}{\lambda})[/tex].
For t=0 and x=0 you have [tex]\phi_1 =0[/tex]
For the values given in OP, you have [tex]\phi_2 = 2 \pi (\frac{3.5}{2}-\frac{0.175}{0.628})=3 \pi [/tex]
Multiples of 2Π do not change the wave at all. So this is an actual change of Π which means that the two events are in opposition of phase. So from -A it goes to +A.

If you still want to describe it "in two pieces", the x2=0.157m is one quarter wavelength. So at t=0, and x1=0, the wave at x2=0.175 m goes through zero, towards negative values.
First time it will reach +A will be after 3/4 of a period. Next time it will reach the same value will be after 3/4+1 period or 1.75 periods or 3.5 ms.
 
  • #6
Like @nasu, your wave equation is:
$$ y(x,t) = A\sin(1000\pi{t}-10x) $$

Edit: if demand to calculate values for large time (t>10T), some programs makes truncation error mistakes.
 

FAQ: Why does the soundwave reach its maximum at 3.5ms and a distance of 0.157m?

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