Dolphins produce \"click\" sounds for underwater echolocation of prey items; to

Question

Dolphins produce "click" sounds for underwater echolocation of prey items; to do so, their calls need to bounce off the target and come back to them. Sound waves tend to be reflected by objects larger or equal to the wavelength of the sound. For the following questions, use the appropriate values for c that you find in your class notes. (a) What minimum frequency (in KHz) of clicks would the dolphin need to produce to locate a 7-inch long herring? (3pt) (b) What is the period of a wave at this frequency? (lpt) (c) What would the wavelength of this click be if the dolphin were to produce the sound in the air? (2pt) (d) What would the period of this airborne wave be? (1 pt)

Explanation / Answer

1 inch = 0.0254 meter.

Therefore 7 inch = 0.1778 m. So, we can take the wavelength of sound equal to the length of the herring, i.e wavelength (L) = 0.1778 m.

Let the value of velocity of sound (c) in water be approximately = 1500 m/s.

We know .. c = L x f;

Where f is the frequency of sound.

a) so, minimum frequency of sound = f = c/L = 1500/0.1778 = 8436.44 Hz. = 8.436 KHz.

b) The time period of wave at this frequency (T) = 1/f = 1/8436.44 = 0.0001185 seconds.

c) velocity of sound in air (c) is approximately = 340 m/s. So wavelength of the click (L) = c/f = 340/8436.44 = 0.04 m.

d) The time period of this wave = T = 1/f = 0.0001185 seconds.

The frequency and time period both will remain constant.

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