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Speed of Sound Echo Method

Abstract and Introduction: The topics studied in class that relate to this lab report are the following: equations of motion, Heat, Energy, Sound and Waves. Echos are usually defined as reflection of the sound that was made off a distant object (Wall in our case). From ancient times people use echo to locate other people from the wave sound that is made from humans. In todays generation echoes are used to estimate the distance of an object, velocity of sound etc It is known that the sound wave travels through a medium, particularly air- in a straight line. In the case of sound wave in air hitting the wall, most of the sound will be reflected. The purpose of the experiment was to calculate the speed of sound by measuring and using the time it took for an echo to travel back and forth by clapping the two wooden blocks 20 times and four trials in total. The distance of the echo traveled divided the average time from four of the trials; took to get back to the source would be used as the speed of sound. There is another formula is given to find the actual speed of sound is V = 331 + 0.59 Tc. (s*c). So here Tc is the temperature that was measured while working on the lab. In this lab, the speed of sound that will be calculated is 331 m/s. This speed has an error of 1.64% and is calculated using an equation of motion distance/time = velocity.

Author: - Maulik

Vora

Course: - SPH3U1 02 Teacher: - Ms. Kee Group Members: - Amrit Pannu, Vraj Patel, Jaskirat Kalsi Assigned Date: - April 30th, 2012 Due Date: - May 10th, 2012

Purpose: The purpose of the experiment was to calculate the speed of sound by measuring and using the time it took for an echo to travel back and forth by clapping the two wooden blocks 20 times and four trials in total. The distance of the echo traveled divided the average time from four of the trials; took to get back to the source would be used as the speed of sound. There is another formula is given to find the actual speed of sound is V = 331 + 0.59 T c. (s*c). So here Tc is the temperature that was measured while working on the lab.

Hypothesis: The speed of sound as I described in my purpose is determined by the formula is V = 331 + 0.59 Tc. (s*c). The temperature measured outside while doing the lab was 9. Using this formula you can easily calculate the speed of sound yielded from your experiment. The calculated theoretical value of sound is approximately around 336 m/s. However, it is not possible to accurate the value of what speed of the sound could be? Since all the reaction time can only be added to total recorded time; because speed is distance over time; it is surely concludes that speed of the sound will be smaller than the actual value. My predicted range for the speed of the sound was in between 310 to 340. This is why because considering errors included the fact that the measurements were taken from a human eye and from hand used materials, such as meter sticks and stopwatches, which make the values less precise due to human error. Disregarding the human errors, however experiment doesnt do not wait long until we hear the clapping sound reflected, it can be concluded that it value of the sound could be much higher than what we found. Taking magnitude of error into an account, factors like whose timing and whose clapping the wooden blocks. Furthermore, in the case considering the consistency of person to person clapping in rhythm with having two wooden blocks varies. At the end whatever unknown variables it is, the value of the magnitude cant be accurately calculated. In summary, whatever the case may be; the speed of sound will lay somewhere near around 336 m/s.

Materials: Stopwatch 2 wooden blocks Meter Stick

Procedure: 1. Firstly, find a high flat wall; which in our case its 50 m and stand in from of the flat wall. 2. Clap two wooden blocks until you hear an echo. Repeat similar processes for 5 to 10 times until you get an approximate time interval to ensure and have an idea between the sound and the echo.

3. After that clap the wooden blocks after the each echo so u get the similar time intervals for each clap and echo. Meaning make the clap in consistent rhythm. Make sure that you do clapechoclapecho and ensure to get it more consistent to get more precise value. 4. Di four trials making sure you have all values for the time intervals closer that will make an error more precise. Record the time intervals for 2o times each trial. Note*: - Remember to start counting with zero! 5. Determine the average of all the time interval trials between all the claps. Interval = time taken for four trials (one trial each). Measure the distance from the wall and calculate the speed of sound in air.

Results: Amount of Time for the echo to get back after clapping the wooden blocks for 20 times Distance for the Wall: - 50 meters Temperature: - 9oc
Trials 1 Distance (meters) 50 Time (in seconds) 12.33 Velocity in (m/s) VsoundTheoretical = D/T

50

11.82

= 324.46 m/s VsoundTheoretical = D/T

50

11.89

= 338.52 m/s VsoundTheoretical = D/T

50

12.35

= 336.47 m/s VsoundTheoretical = D/T

Average

48.39/4 = 12.09

= 324.04 m/s Average: VsoundTheoretical = D/T

= 330.9 m/

Calculations: Note*: - Tc is temperature that was taken during the time allotted for the lab.

VsoundActual = 331 + 0.59 Tc

= 331 + 0.59 (9) = 336.31 m/s Therefore, this actual value above we are expected to find, closer and precise.

VsoundTheoretical

= = 330.9 m/s Therefore, that is the value we found for the speed of the sound based on our data. Note* : - Distance = 50 meters

Time =

= 30.255

= = 330.9 m/s

Questions: 1. How does your value of the speed of the sound in air compare with the accepted value? What was your percentage error? From the above calculation we can determine that the two speed of sound (Actual and Theoretical) that we calculated have very precise amount of error. The Actual value that we got for the speed of a sound by the formula is V = 331 + 0.59 Tc was 336.7 m/s and then based on our results the value we got by plugging the values in the formula V = was 330.9 m/s. This different is I would say moderately significant because considering errors included the fact that the measurements were taken from a human eye and from hand used materials, such as meter sticks and stopwatches, which make the values less precise due to human error. Meaning possible factors like time was started a bit early or ended a bit early. And then also take an account is the clapping of wooden blocks were done by human, which makes more outcome of not having and precise value. Or maybe the rhythm of the clapping wasnt consistent. To find the percentage error is shoed below: -

Percent Error(%) = |Actual Value - Theoretical Value| X 100% |Theoretical Value| = |336.31 m/s 330.9 m/s| X 100% |330.9 m/s| = |336.31 m/s 330.9 m/s| X 100% |330.9 m/s| = |5.41 m/s | X 100% |330.9 m/s| = |0.016349| X 100% = 1.634 %

The results in error of 1.634% states that our results are very close the actual value which is an accomplishment. It is said that anything below 5% error is good. We accomplished the mark 3.36 %. The results were more than accurate from what we expected. However; it could have better. 2. Knowing the speed of sound, how might you determine the distance between your point of observation and granite cliff some distance away? The known way to calculate the speed would be to divide the change in position over change in time. We could use some similar process as we just used two wooden blocks to make sound echoes; but in place of wooden blocks we can actually do by ourselves. If someone were to scream or make really loud noise, (As shown in the diagram below) it would be x amount of time for an echo to get reflected back to come to its original position. During the time travel it would determined as 2d. d being the distance between a person and granite cliff. By using the stopwatch we can determine the time it takes to return the echo for the granite cliff back and forth. Once we estimate the time we can plug the values into the formula and doing easy math manipulation to get the answer. The equation would be 2d = v*t or t = 2d/v. where the
o o o

d = the distance the sound wave traveled back and forth, v = velocity of sound, and t = the time it takes the sound to go back and forth.

Form this we can determine the velocity of the sound by plugging the values into the formula. If cliff was very near to person (approximate 10-15 meters) then it would be really hard

6 determine the velocity at which the wave of a sound moved because it really hard to count 0.1second and further would be better because its easier to count 5 , 10 and 15 seconds. But if you have proper measuring apparatus it wouldnt be a problem.

Considering that as Granite cliff

Illustration of person and echo (Considering wall as granite cliff)

Conclusion: In summary, my hypothesis clearly relates to the lab I performed and the values that I calculated and involves a sense of what we learned about sounds and waves. However the fact that error wasnt as precise but it was really closer generating only 1.634% error, considering 5% error as good. As I see in my results and calculation, I made a prediction of the range for the speed of the sound will in between 310 to 340, and as can you see in my results the velocity of speed of sound for every time intervals is between the range and one was actually 0.16 closer
3 50 11.89 VsoundTheoretical = D/T

= 336.47 m/s

to the actual velocity of sound. It was the best value I could find near to the actual value for the velocity of sound at 9oc. Furthermore, the actual value was calculate by the default formula of calculating the speed of sound given the temperature in * Celsius using 331 + 0.59 Tc (T Temperature) and the value I got was 336.37 m/s. To find the theoretical I used the formula distance/time and the value I got was 330.9 m/s. And finally the error was found by the formula Percent Error(%) = |Actual Value - Theoretical Value| X 100% |Theoretical Value| And the value was 1.634%. Thats how I conclude my lab showing close values I can get.