Class 11 Physics - Chapter Waves NCERT Solutions | Earthquakes generate sound waves inside

A transverse harmonic wave on a string is described by

y(x,t)  =  3.0 sin [36t + 0.018x + π /4]

Where x and y are in cm and t in s. The positive direction of x is from left to right.

(a) Is this a travelling wave or a stationary wave? If it is travelling, what are the speed and direction of its propagation?

(b) What are its amplitude and frequency?

(c) What is the initial phase at the origin?

(d) What is the least distance between two successive crests in the wave?

Use the formula v = √ γP/ρ  to explain why the speed of sound in air (a) is independent of pressure, (b) increases with temperature, (c) increases with humidity.

A narrow sound pulse (for example, a short pip by a whistle) is sent across a medium.

(a) Does the pulse have a definite (i) frequency, (ii) wavelength, (iii) speed of propagation?

(b) If the pulse rate is 1 after every 20 s, (that is the whistle is blown for a split of second after every 20 s), is the frequency of the note produced by the whistle equal to or 0.05 Hz?

A stone dropped from the top of a tower of height 300 m high splashes into the water of a pond near the base of the tower. When is the splash heard at the top given that the speed of sound in air is 340 m s^-1? (g= 9.8 m s^-2)

A travelling harmonic wave on a string is described by

y(x,t) = 7.5sin [0.0050x + 12t + π/4]

(a) What are the displacement and velocity of oscillation of a point at x = 1 cm, and t = 1 s? Is this velocity equal to the velocity of wave propagation?

(b) Locate the points of the string which have the same transverse displacements and velocity as the x = 1 cm point at t = 2 s, 5 s and 11 s.

A bat emits ultrasonic sound of frequency 1000 kHz in air. If the sound meets a water surface, what is the wavelength of (a) the reflected sound, (b) the transmitted sound? Speed of sound in air is 340 m s^-1 and in water 1486 m s^-1.

A pipe 20 cm long is closed at one end. Which harmonic mode of the pipe is resonantly excited by a 430 Hz source? Will the same source be in resonance with the pipe if both ends are open? (Speed of sound in air is 340 m s^-1).

A steel wire has a length of 12.0 m and a mass of 2.10 kg. What should be the tension in the wire so that speed of a transverse wave on the wire equals the speed of sound in dry air at 20 °C = 343 m s^-1.

For the travelling harmonic wave

y (x, t) = 2.0 cos 2π (10t - 0.0080 x + 0.35)

Where x and y are in cm and t in s. Calculate the phase difference between oscillatory motion of two points separated by a distance of

(a) 4 m,

(b) 0.5 m,

(c) λ / 2 ,

(d) 3λ / 4

Some of the most profound statements on the nature of science have come from Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of all time. What do you think did Einstein mean when he said : “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible”?

The sign of work done by a force on a body is important to understand. State carefully if the following quantities are positive or negative:

(a) work done by a man in lifting a bucket out of a well by means of a rope tied to the bucket.

(b) work done by gravitational force in the above case,

(c) work done by friction on a body sliding down an inclined plane,

(d) work done by an applied force on a body moving on a rough horizontal plane with uniform velocity,

(e) work done by the resistive force of air on a vibrating pendulum in bringing it to rest.

A geyser heats water flowing at the rate of 3.0 litres per minute from 27 °C to 77 °C. If the geyser operates on a gas burner, what is the rate of consumption of the fuel if its heat of combustion is 4.0 x 10⁴ J/g?

Estimate the fraction of molecular volume to the actual volume occupied by oxygen gas at STP. Take the diameter of an oxygen molecule to be 3Å.

The length, breadth and thickness of a rectangular sheet of metal are 4.234 m, 1.005 m, and 2.01 cm respectively. Give the area and volume of the sheet to correct significant figures.

Rain is falling vertically with a speed of 30 m s^–1. A woman rides a bicycle with a speed of 10 m s^–1 in the north to south direction. What is the direction in which she should hold her umbrella?

A pump on the ground floor of a building can pump up water to fill a tank of volume 30 m³ in 15 min. If the tank is 40 m above the ground, and the efficiency of the pump is 30%, how much electric power is consumed by the pump?

Figure 3.23 gives the x-t plot of a particle executing one-dimensional simple harmonic motion. (You will learn about this motion in more detail in Chapter14). Give the signs of position, velocity and acceleration variables of the particle at t = 0.3 s, 1.2 s, – 1.2 s.

                                       (Fig 3.23)

A drunkard walking in a narrow lane takes 5 steps forward and 3 steps backward, followed again by 5 steps forward and 3 steps backward, and so on. Each step is 1 m long and requires 1 s. Plot the x-t graph of his motion. Determine graphically and otherwise how long the drunkard takes to fall in a pit 13 m away from the start.

A vertical off-shore structure is built to withstand a maximum stress of 10⁹ Pa. Is the structure suitable for putting up on top of an oil well in the ocean? Take the depth of the ocean to be roughly 3 km, and ignore ocean currents.

Write in about 1000 words a fiction piece based on your speculation on the science and technology of the twenty-second century.

A physical quantity P is related to four observables a, b, c and d as follows :

The percentage errors of measurement in a, b, c and d are 1%, 3%, 4% and 2%, respectively. What is the percentage error in the quantity P ? If the value of P calculated using the above relation turns out to be 3.763, to what value should you round off the result ?

A bob of mass 0.1 kg hung from the ceiling of a room by a string 2 m long is set into oscillation. The speed of the bob at its mean position is 1 ms^-1. What is the trajectory of the bob if the string is cut when the bob is (a) at one of its extreme positions, (b) at its mean position.

Does the escape speed of a body from the earth depend on

(a) the mass of the body,

(b) the location from where it is projected,

(c) the direction of projection,

(d) the height of the location from where the body is launched?