Question

Suppose that a sound source is emitting waves uniformly in all directions. If you move to a point twice as far away from the source, the frequency of the sound will be:________.
a. one-fourth as great.
b. half as great.
c. twice as great.
d. unchanged.

Answer 1

Answer:

d. unchanged.

Explanation:

The frequency of a wave is dependent on the speed of the wave and the wavelength of the wave. The frequency is characteristic for a wave, and does not change with distance. This is unlike the amplitude which determines the intensity, which decreases with distance.

In a wave, the velocity of propagation of a wave is the product of its wavelength and its frequency. The speed of sound does not change with distance, except when entering from one medium to another, and we can see from

v = fλ

that the frequency is tied to the wave, and does not change throughout the waveform.

where v is the speed of the sound wave

f is the frequency

λ is the wavelength of the sound wave.