Question

If a fast moving car making a loud noise approaches and moves past the person what will happen as the distance between the two increases?

Answer 1

The pitch of the sound being heard by the person will appear to be lower than the pitch of the source.

Answer 2

Answer: The sound pitch (frequency) and the sound intensity (strength) of the car will decrease.

Step-by-step explanation:

- As the distance between the source and the person increases, there must be more air molecules involved in transferring the sound leading to a decrease in the sound pitch (frequency “ number of sound waves received per second”).

- According to the inverse square law of sound “sound intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the source and the person”, as the distance between the source and person doubles, sound intensity (strength) will decrease to its quarter..