Name: Swarup Suresh Devde

Roll No: 1431

Batch: N2 PRN:
22110558

Experiment No. 2 Title: Experiment on Ultrasonic

Interferometer for determination of compressibility of liquid.

Aim: To determine the compressibility of liquid, at room temperature, by using an Ultrasonic

Interferometer.
Apparatus: Ultrasonic Interferometer, given liquid.
Diagram:

Theory:
Sound is a wave of mechanical vibrations propagating through a medium. The vibration of atoms or molecules
about their mean positions leads to successive regions of compressions and expansion which carry energy in
the direction of the propagation of the sound wave. Sound waves are always longitudinal in fluids,
i.e. gases and liquids. As the sound wave is associated with local compression and expansion of the fluid, the
velocity v of sound wave in a fluid is given by:

where, B is the Bulk modulus and ρ is the density of the fluid.

 • Ultrasonic waves are sound waves with frequency greater than 20 KHz. They follow all the laws of
physics applicable to sound in general.
• Ultrasonic waves are detected and generated using Piezoelectric and Inverse piezoelectric effect,
respectively. Piezoelectric effect is defined as generation of electric charge on the surface of a material
on application of mechanical stress. When the mechanical stress changes from compressive to tensile,
the polarity of charge reverses. Inverse piezoelectric effect is generation of mechanical stress in a
material when an electric field is applied. The materials which exhibit this property are called
piezoelectric materials. Typical piezoelectric materials are quartz, LiNbO3, PbZrO3, BaTiO3, CaTiO3,
etc. The ABO3 type of compounds are non-centro- symmetric i.e., the B atom is not at the center of the
cubic unit cell. This leads to a separation of center of gravity of the positive and negative charges and
hence creation of an electric dipole. In normal conditions the material is neutral due to random
orientation of these dipoles. On application of mechanical stress, these dipoles get oriented towards one
direction creating a net separation of charge leading to piezoelectric effect. Similar mechanism is at
work in non-ABO3 crystals like quartz also.

• To generate ultrasonic waves, inverse piezoelectric effect is used. An electronic oscillator with the
desired frequency provides a sinusoidal variation of potential across plates of capacitor containing
piezoelectric crystal. This leads to mechanical vibrations of the crystal thus producing ultrasonic waves
in the medium in which the crystal is immersed.

• An electronic oscillator (see Figure) consists of an amplifier with a tank circuit in its positive feedback
path. The positive feedback to an amplifier leads to oscillations with frequency defined by the
frequency of the tank circuit. The tank circuit consists of a capacitor with a capacitance C and inductor
with an inductance L connected in parallel. The electronic frequency fe of this tank circuit is given by

In modern day oscillators, an operational amplifier (OPAMP) is used. A typical circuit is shown in the
Figure. The actual circuits are much more complex.
Working Principle and construction of ultrasonic interferometer:
An ultrasonic interferometer works on the principle of interference. It consists of an electronic oscillator and
a measuring cell. The electronic oscillator is used to excite the quartz crystal, placed at the bottom of the
measuring cell, at its resonant frequency. There is a movable reflector plate attached to a sensitive micrometer
screw at the top of the cell. The screw can be rotated to raise or lower the reflector plate parallel to the face
of the crystal. The cell is mounted in a square socket and is connected to the high frequency generator through
a co-axial shielded cable. An ammeter measures the crystal current. An ‘Adj’ knob is used to provide an offset
so that the measured current is within the range of the ammeter. The ‘Gain’ knob is used to regulate the
sensitivity of the instrument to obtain greater deflection.
These ultrasonic waves, produced by the piezoelectric crystal at the bottom of the cell, travel upwards through
the liquid in the measuring cell, and are reflected back a movable reflector plate. The ongoing and returning
ultrasonic waves superimpose to produce standing waves in the liquid medium. There is always a node at the
reflector. If the distance between the reflector and the crystal , where n is an integer, then there is
an antinode at the crystal and hence the crystal can move freely with maximum amplitude and hence the
crystal current is maximum. If the reflector is further moved through a distance of λ/2 to a distance
, the crystal current again becomes a maximum. If d is the separation between two
successive maximum current, then d = λ/2. The wavelength is thus calculated from d. The velocity of the

ultrasonic waves is found using the relation . Adiabatic compressibility of a

liquid .

Procedure:
1. Rotate the micrometer in one direction (clockwise or anticlockwise) till the current
reaches a maximum. Take the reading on the micrometer.
 2. Keep moving the micrometer in the same direction and take readings for several such
maxima. Calculate distance ‘d’ between consecutive maxima. 3. Find average d, λ = 2davg
and corresponding v and β Formulae:

1. Velocity, v = f × λ where, f = frequency of ultrasound produced by quartz crystal. λ =

2d, d is the average distance between two consecutive maxima.

2. Compressibility, β = 1 / (ρv^2)
Where, v is the velocity of ultrasonic waves through liquid and ρ is density of liquid.
Observation:
1. Density of liquid (Water), ρ =997kg/m
 2. Natural frequency of the quartz crystal, f = 2 MHz = ........2*106 ............ Hz
3. Least count of the micrometer =....0.01. mm...
Observation Table:
MSR CSR TR Distance Average Wavelength
Between ‘davg’ of Ultrasonic
consecutive (mm) Waves
maxima Λ(mm)=2davg
d(mm)
1 12 3 12.03 0
2 11.5 14 11.64 0.39
3 11 27 11.27 0.37 0.382 0.764
4 10.5 38 10.88 0.39
5 10.5 1 10.51 0.37
6 10 12 10.12 0.39

Wavelength of the ultrasonic waves, =.0. 3822.. mm = 0.0003822m

1. Velocity v=f λ =2*10^6*0.764*(10^-3) = 1528m/s

2. Compressibility β=1/ρv²= 428.305* (10^-12) m^2/N

Results: Compressibility of liquid (water) at a temperature of 25˚C is 1.783_✕10-9

Conclusions: Compressibility of liquid (water) at a temperature of 25˚C is 1.783_✕10-9

Hence, according to the formula we can determine compressibility of liquid at room temperature
using ultrasonic interferometer.

Questions:
1. Compare the present experiment with Resonance tube experiment carried out in XII
standard. What are the commonalities and what are the differences?
1) The resonance tube experiment aim was to note the velocity of sound
2) Ultrasonic interferometer is a device which gives accurate data from which one can
determine the velocity of ultrasonic sound in a liquid medium and is a system in which it is made to
oscillate about its mean position when and external unbalanced force is applied by using a cylindrical
tube used to find its velocity.

2. Tabulate the values of Compressibility, Elastic modulus and density for Air, Water,
hydraulic oil and stainless steel and discuss the trend. Ans)
 Air Water Hydrauli Stainless Steel
c Oil
Compressibili 7.65 x 4.35 * Nearly 0 163
ty y 10^-2 10−5l/bar because it *109 Pa
does not
exhibit
this
property

Elastic 101 kPa 2.2 GPa Huge 200GPa

modulus value in
GPa
Density 1.225 kg/m^ 997 kg/m 833.34 kg/m³ 7.85Mg/m
3 ³ 3

3. What is the role of compressibility in pneumatic and hydraulic machines?

Ans) Pneumatics uses an easily compressible gas such as air or a suitable pure gas— while
hydraulics uses relatively incompressible liquid media such as oil. Most industrial pneumatic
applications use pressures of about 80 to 100 pounds per square inch (550 to 690 kPa).

4. Connect this experiment with Unit I on Vibrations.

1) Ultrasonics, vibrations of frequencies greater than the upper limit of the audible range for
humans—that is, greater than about 20 KHz
2) An ultrasonic transducer is a device used to convert some other type of energy into an
ultrasonic vibration
3) Electromechanical Transducers include piezoelectric devices. Piezoelectric crystal, which
converts an oscillating electric field applied to the crystal into a mechanical vibration.
4) When electricity is passed through a certain material, vibrate very
quickly. This is called piezoelectricity.
5) An ultrasonic transducer converts other forms of energy into an
ultrasonic vibrations.eg mechanical into electrical and vice versa
• It is a type of sound related sensor. The transducer
sends electrical vibrations to the object, the object
reverts back the signal.
6) In this process the distance of the object, velocity, compressibility can
be calculated too.
7) The mechanical vibration are nothing but stationary waves forming
nodes and antinodes and by knowing the distance between two nodes
and antinodes we can easily calculate the velocity of the waves and
eventually we get the value of compressibility of liquids, hence the
concept of vibrations from unit one is used in this experiment.