Introduction

Acoustics, the science of sound, describes the phenomenon of mechanical vibra-

tions and their propagation in solid, liquid or gaseous materials. Empty space
knows no sound because it is the particles of matter themselves which vibrate, in
contrast for instance to the oscillations of light or other electromagnetic waves
where the electric and magnetic state of free space oscillates. In air a sound wave
moves a discrete volume of air back and forth around its neutral position, whereas a
light wave has no influence on its state of rest or motion.
If such mechanical movements in matter, repeated periodically and for a given
length of time, are classified according to their number of cycles per second, a
range can be defined in which the human ear can serve as detector. The sound is
audible if it reaches the ear either through the air or through the body. This re-
quires, however, that its frequency be neither too low nor too high. Sound below ap-
prox. 10 Hz (hertz = cycles per second) and above approx. 15000 to 20000 Hz is in-
audible to the human ear. For the lower limit this statement is, however, strictly
correct only where this concerns sinusoidal oscillations. Other forms of vibration
are resolved by the ear into harmonics, thus making them audible as noise pulse se-
quences.
Just as in the case of light waves, where the higher frequencies which are invisi-
ble to the eye, are called ultraviolet, so the sound waves above 20000 Hz are re-
ferred to as ultrasound or ultrasonic. It has been suggested that sound waves below
10 Hz be called subsonic. This division is purely arbitrary and dependent on the
human ear. Completely different demarcations apply in the case of other generating
and detecting methods.
Ultrasonic waves are a rather common occurence in nature and in daily life,
and are occasionally of such intensity that we may regard ourselves as very fortu-
nate indeed that our ear is not burdened by them, as for instance in the case of
steam whistles. A rotating grindstone when used for grinding a specimen generates
in addition to audible noise intense ultrasonic waves with frequencies as high as
those used for testing materials, viz. above 100,000 Hz (100 kHz, kilocycles per sec-
ond) and up to 10000000 Hz (10 MHz, megacycles per second).
The numerous technical applications of sound waves and ultrasonics may be di-
vided into two groups. As in medicine where X-rays are used for two completely dif-
ferent purposes, viz. therapeutically for their action on tissue (e.g. cancer irradia-
tion) and diagnostically for studying certain medical conditions (e.g. radioscopy of
the lungs), so sound can be used to act physically on a given material, or to explore
its physical condition. In the first case the energy of the sound wave is used, for ex-
ample for ejecting particles of dirt from fabrics during washing, for detaching for-
eign bodies from a surface during cleaning, for removing metal chips during drill-