Question

A bat at rest sends out ultrasonic sound waves at 46.2 kHz and receives them returned from an object moving directly away from it at 21.8 m/s, what is the received sound frequency?

f= ? Hz

Answer 1

f" = 40779.61 Hz

Step-by-step explanation:

From the question, we see that the bat is the source of the sound wave and is initially at rest and the object is in motion as the observer, thus;

from the Doppler effect equation, we can calculate the initial observed frequency as:

f' = f(1 - (v_o/v))

We are given;

f = 46.2 kHz = 46200 Hz

v_o = 21.8 m/s

v is speed of sound = 343 m/s

Thus;

f' = 46200(1 - (21/343))

f' = 43371.4285 Hz

In the second stage, we see that the bat is now a stationary observer while the object is now the moving source;

Thus, from doppler effect again but this time with the source going away from the obsever, the new observed frequency is;

f" = f'/(1 + (v_o/v))

f" = 43371.4285/(1 + (21.8/343))

f" = 40779.61 Hz