The sound intensity 50 m from a wailing tornado siren is

0.10W/m2.

a. What is the intensity at 1000 m?

b. The weakest intensity likely to be heard over background noise is 1μW/m2. Estimate the maximum distance at

which the siren can be heard.

Short Answer

Expert verified

a. Intensity of sound is, 2.5×10-4W/m2.

b. The maximum distance is 16km, from which the siren can be heard.

Step by step solution

01

Part a Step 1: Given data

At a distance r1=50m, intensity of sound isI1=0.10W/m2

At a distance ,r2=1000mthe intensity of sound I2 should be found.


02

Determination of intensity

The intensity I2can be obtained as,
role="math" localid="1648922739120" I2I1=r12r22I2=I1r12r22I2=(0.10W/m2)(50m)2(1000m)2I2=2.5×10-4W/m2

03

Part b Step 1: Given data

The weakest intensity likely to be heard over background

noise is 1μW/m2.

The maximum distancerole="math" localid="1648922664072" r'should be obtained from which the siren can be heard.

04

Determination of the maximum distance

The maximum distance can be obtained by,

I3I1=r12r'2r'2=r12I1I3r'=I1I3r1r'=0.10W/m21×10-6W/m2×50mr'=16000mr'=16km

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