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Lecture 1

This document describes an experiment to determine the velocity of sound in air using a cathode ray oscilloscope. Sound waves from a speaker transmitter are received by a microphone receiver, and the signals are fed into the oscilloscope. By varying the distance between the transmitter and receiver, straight lines with positive and negative slopes are obtained on the oscilloscope screen, allowing the half wavelength of the sound to be measured. Repeating this for different frequencies and plotting wavelength vs the reciprocal of frequency gives the velocity of sound.

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Ayan Santra
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
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64 views

Lecture 1

This document describes an experiment to determine the velocity of sound in air using a cathode ray oscilloscope. Sound waves from a speaker transmitter are received by a microphone receiver, and the signals are fed into the oscilloscope. By varying the distance between the transmitter and receiver, straight lines with positive and negative slopes are obtained on the oscilloscope screen, allowing the half wavelength of the sound to be measured. Repeating this for different frequencies and plotting wavelength vs the reciprocal of frequency gives the velocity of sound.

Uploaded by

Ayan Santra
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 1

Velocity of sound in air



Objective

To determine the velocity of sound in air at room temperature using a Cathode
Ray Oscilloscope.

Theory

If two sinusoidal inputs, say, y1 = a1 sin (et-o1) and y2 = a2 sin (et-o2) are fed to
the x-plates and y-plates of an Oscilloscope, the superimposed wave obtained in the
screen of the CRO would have the form (look up the method of superposition of
sinusoidal waves say, in Jenkins & White , Fundamentals of Optics):

sin
2
(o1 - o2) = y1
2
/a1
2
+ y2
2
/a2
2
- 2 (y1y2/(a1a2)) cos (o1 - o2) ------ (1)

where a and o represent the amplitude and phase of the two sinusoids respectively. If the
phase difference between these two waves S = (o1 - o2) is set to be an even multiple of
t, i.e., S = 2nt, then the above expression reduces to

sin
2
(o1 - o2) = sin
2
(2nt) = 0

y1
2
/a1
2
+ y2
2
/a2
2
- 2 (y1y2/(a1a2)) cos (2nt) = 0

(y1/a1 - y2/a2)
2
= 0

y1 = (a1/a2) y2 ------ (2)

which is the equation for a straight line. It can be shown that for S = (2n+1)t (i.e., for
odd multiples of t), equation (1) reduces to

y1 = - (a1/a2) y2 ------ (3)

which is again the equation for a straight line (but with a negative slope as compared to
equation 3.2).

Suppose that one of the two electrical signals, x, is derived from the audio generator
which is simultaneously connected to a transmitter T (speaker), as shown in Fig.9.1 and
the second one y is that of from the receiver R (microphone) placed in front of the
transmitter (at a certain distance). The transmitter will be emitting the sound waves of
frequency that of applied from the audio generator. The emitted sound waves propagating
in air is received by the receiver. In this case phase difference between the two signals
will depend on the path length traveled by the sound (in air) between transmitter and
receiver. If the path length is n (where is the wavelength of the sound wave traveling
in air) then the slope of the line displayed on the oscilloscope will be positive (eqn. 2) and
if it is
2
1 2 + n
then the display will be a straight line with negative slope (eqn. 3).
Therefore path difference between any two successive straight line is /2.



Fig 9.1
Procedure

1. Wire up the circuit as shown in figure.
2. Set the oscilloscope in xy mode and set the frequency of the audio oscillator (between
1-5KHz).
3. Adjust the amplitude of the sinusoidal input such that an ellipse is obtained on the
screen of the scope.
4. Keeping one speaker (T) fixed, move the microphone (receiver R) until the ellipse
collapses into a straight line. Note the distance between the two loudspeakers.
5. Move receiver R again and obtain the immediately next position for which a straight
line is once again obtained on the CRO screen. The distance between such successive
positions of the receiver corresponds to half-wavelength (/2) of the sound wave.
6. Take a average of many such /2 values and then obtain the wavelength
corresponding to the particular frequency.
7. Repeat observation for a few more frequency values.
8. Plot vs 1/v and obtain the velocity of sound from the graph.
Estimate the error in the measurement of velocity for each frequency.

Observations

Frequency = , Position of Transmitter T =

No. Position of the receiver R /2 (in m) Mean (m)

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