Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.
—Sir Edmund Hillary

PRACTICE TEST

Fill in the blank

1.  The length of time it takes a medium carrying a wave through one full cycle is the __________ of a wave.

2.  The reciprocal of a wave's period is its ____________.

3.  The Hertz is the measure of _____________.

4.  Two points on a wave that are a half wavelength apart are _____________ degrees out of phase with each other.

5.  The maximum displacement on any point of a wave is called the _____________ of the wave at that point.

6.  In a real wave, the process by which a wave loses energy as it travels is called _________.

7.  The distance between two successive points in phase is the _____________ of the wave.

8.  The product of the frequency and wavelength gives the _________ of a wave.

9.  In a longitudinal wave, the motion of the particle is ___________ to the wave velocity.

10.  The nature of the medium in which it travels largely determines the ___________ of a wave.

11.  A sound wave consists of alternate compressions and __________ spreading through space.

12.  The loudness of the sound from a siren is 50 decibels at a distance of 10 meters.  The loudness at 100 meters will be ________ decibels.

13.  Increasing the intensity of a sound by a factor of 100 raises the loudness by ______ decibels.

14.  The speed of a sound wave in air depends only on _________.

15.  The pitch of a musical sound depends on the __________ of the wave.

Multiple Choice

1.  One Hertz is equivalent to
    a.  1 cycle per second.
    b.  1 second.
    c.  1 meter per second.
    d.  1 second per meter.
    e.  1 meter per second squared.

2.  If two points on a linear wave are in phase, the distance between them must be
    a.  exactly 1 wavelength.
    b.  an odd number of half wavelengths.
    c.  some whole number wavelengths.
    d.  some number of half wavelengths.
    e.  one half wavelength.

3.  A sound wave in air is described as a longitudinal wave because the air molecules move
    a.  through a single dimension.
    b.  through a very short distance.
    c.  in simple harmonic motion.
    d.  perpendicular to the direction of travel of the wave.
    e.  parallel to the direction of the travel of the wave.

4.  If you are in an open-air concert and someone's head gets between you and the orchestra, you can still hear the orchestra because
    a.  sound waves pass easily through a head.
    b.  a head is not very large compared to the wavelength of the sound.
    c.  the sound is reflected from the head.
    d.  the wavelength of the sound is much smaller than the head.
    e.  the head resonates to the sound wave.

5.  If a car sounding its horn is moving away from you, the sound you receive compared to, compared with what it would be if the car were not in motion, has a
    a.  shorter wavelength and higher frequency.
    b.  shorter wavelength and lower frequency.
    c.  lower frequency but no difference in wavelength.
    d.  longer wavelength but no difference in frequency.
    e.  longer wavelength but no difference in frequency.

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