Wave in pipes and strings

Numerical Questions: BY LPC

1. Find the ratio of length of closed pipe to that of open pipe in order that the second overtone of the former is in unison with the
fourth overtone of the latter. (Ans. 1:2)
2. An open pipe 30 cm long and closed pipe 23 cm long both of the same diameter are each sounding its first overtone and they are in
unison. What is the end-correction of these pipes? (Ans. 1 cm)
3. When an open pipe is suddenly closed, it is found that the second overtone of the closed pipe is higher in frequency by 100 Hz than
the first overtone of the original open pipe. What is the fundamental frequency of the open pipe? (Ans: 200 Hz)
4. An open organ pipe is tuned to a frequency of 440 Hz when the temperature is 27 0C. Find its frequency when the temperature drops
to 00C.
5. In a resonance tube experiment, the first & second resonance positions were observed at 17 cm and 52.6 cm respectively. The tuning
fork used was of frequency 512 Hz and the temperature was 27oC. Calculate the velocity of sound in air at 0oC and the end correction
of the tube. (Ans. 348 m/sec, 0.008m)
6. A uniform tube 60.0 cm long stands vertically with its lower end dipping into water. When the length above water is 14.8 cm and
again when it is 48.0 cm, the tube resounds to a vibrating tuning fork of frequency 512 Hz. Find the lowest frequency to which the
tube will resound when it is open at both ends. (Ans: 267 Hz)
7. A piano string 1.5 m long is made of steel of density 7.7 x 10 3 kgm-3 and young’s modulus 2 x 1011 Nm-2. It is maintain a tension
which produces an elastic strain of 1% in the string. What is the fundamental frequency of transverse vibration of the string? (Ans:
170 Hz)
8. A sonometer wire is stretched by hanging by a metal cylinder of density 8000 kgm-3 at the end of the wire. A fundamental note of
frequency 256 Hz is sounded when the wire is plucked. Calculate the frequency of vibration of the same length of wire when the
vessel of water is placed so that the vessel is totally immersed. (Ans: 239.5 Hz)
9. A pianoforte wire having a diameter of 0.90 mm is replaced by another wire of same material but with diameter 0.93 mm. If the
tension of the wire is same as before, what is the percentage change in the frequency of the fundamental note? What percentage
change in the tension would be necessary to restore the original frequency? (Ans: 6.8% )
10. A steel wire of length 40.0 cm and diameter 0.0250 cm vibrates transversely in unison with a tube, open at each end and of effective
length 60.0 cm when each is sounding its fundamental note. The air temperature is 27 oC. Find the tension in the wire. (Assume that
the velocity of sound in air at 0o is 331 m/s and density of steel is 7800 kg m-3). (Ans: 20.5 N)
11. A string when stretched by a weight of 4 kg gives a note of frequency 256 Hz. What weight will produce an octave of this note?
(Ans: 16 kg)
12. A steel wire of 2 m long who’s mass is 3 gm is under tension of 580 N and is tied down at both ends. Calculate the frequency and
wavelength for fundamental mode of vibration. (Ans. 144 Hz, 4m)
13. A cord of length 1.5 m is fixed at both ends. Its mass per unit length id 1.2 gm/m and the tension is 12 N. (i) What is the frequency
of fundamental oscillation? (ii) What tension is required if n = 3 mode has frequency of 0.5 kHz? (Ans. 300 N)
14. A stretched string vibrates with a frequency of 50.0 Hz in its fundamental mode when the supports to which the ends of the string
are tied are 0.8 m apart. The amplitude of the vibration of the string at the antinode is 0.50 cm. The string has a mass of 50 gm. (a)
what is the speed of propagation of a transverse wave in the string. (b) Compute the tension in the string. (Ans: 80 m/s, 400N)
15. A wire with mass 40 gm is stretched so that its ends are tied down at points 80 cm apart. The wire vibrates in its fundamental mode
with frequency 60 Hz. Calculate the speed of propagation of transverse waves in the wire and tension in the wire. (Ans. 96 m/sec,
461 N)
16. A wire of diameter 0.04 cm and made of steel of density 8000 kg/m 3 is under tension of 80N. What length of this wire should be
plucked to cause it to vibrate with a frequency of 840 Hz? (Ans. 0.168m)
17. One day when speed of sound is 340m/s the fundamental frequency of a closed pipe is 220 Hz. (a) How long is this pipe? (b) The
second overtone this pipe has the same wavelength as third harmonic of an open pipe. How long is the open pipe? (0.386,0.31m)

Objective Questions:

1. At open end of an organ pipe:

a. a. An antinode is always produced b. Neither node nor antinode is produced
b. c. Either node or antinode may be produced d. A node is always produced
2. At closed of an organ pipe:
a. An antinode is always produced b. A node is always produced

c. Either node or antinode may be produced d. Neither node nor antinode is produced
 3. A closed organ pipe is excited to produce the third overtone of the air column. It is found that the air in the pipe has

a. three nodes and three antinodes b. three nodes and four antinodes

c. four nodes and three antinodes d. four nodes and four antinodes

4. The fundamental frequency of a closed organ pipe is f. The frequency of its first overtone is:
a. f b. 2f c. 3f d. f/2
5. If oil of higher density than that of water is used in place of water in a resonance tube, how does the frequency change?
a. Increases b. Decreases

c. Remains unchanged d. First increases, becomes maximum and then decreases

6. A cylindrical tube open at both ends has a fundamental frequency f in air. The tube is dipped in water so that half of it is in
water. The fundamental frequency of air column is now:
a. f/2 b. 3f/4 c. f d. 2f
7. The end correction of a resonance column is 1.0 cm. If the shortest length resonating with the tuning fork is 15.0 cm, the next
resonating length will be
a. 31 cm b. 45 cm c. 46 cm d. 47 cm
8. If the fifth overtone of closed pipe is in unison with the fifth overtone of an open pipe, then the ratio of the length of closed pipe to
open pipe will be
a. 11:12 b. 12:11 c. 13:11 d. 11:13
9. With an increase in temperature, the frequency of sound from an organ pipe:
a. Decreases b. Increases c. Remains unchanged d. Changes erratically
10. The linear density of a vibrating wire is 1x10-2 kg/m and the transverse wave equation is Y=0.02 sin (x+40t) with x and y are in
meter and t in second. The tension in the wire is
a. 16N b.8N c.4N d. 2N
11. Two stretched wire of same material of length l and 2l vibrate with frequencies 100Hz and 150 Hz respectively. The ratio of their
tension is
a. 2:3 b. 3:2 c. 1:9 d. 1:3
12. A uniform rope of mass M and length L hangs from a celling. The speed of transverse waves at a distance x from the lower end
will be:
a. √𝒙𝒈 b. √ (𝑳 − 𝒙)𝒈 c. X g /2 d. ( x2g)
13. Two uniform wires of the same length and the same tension have diameters in the ratio of 1:2. When they are plucked together
their frequency ratio is
a. 1:2 b. 2:1 c. 1:4 d. 4:1
14. 6. A string of length L is stretched by L/20 when the speed of transverse wave is V. If it is stretched by L/10 the speed of transverse
wave will be
V
a. 4V b.2V c. d. V√𝟐
√𝟐
15. Two wires made of the same material are of equal lengths but their diameters are in the ratio 1:2. On stretching each of these two
strings by same tension, the ratio of the fundamental frequencies of these strings is:
a.1:2 b. 2:1 c. 1:4 d. 4:1

Short Questions:

1. Note produced by an open pipe is sweeter than that produced in a closed pipe. Why?
2. A pipe has both the ends open, while the other pipe has one end closed, otherwise they are identical. What is the ratio of their
fundamental frequencies?
3. When we start filling an empty bucket with water, the pitch of the sound produced goes on changing, why?
4. Does the frequency of sound produced by an organ pipe change with its diameter?
5. What happens to the frequency of a vibrating wire when the attached load is immersed in water?
6. When the tension in the given string is increased by four times, by what factor does the velocity of wave in the string change?
7. Six strings of a guitar are of the same length and are under nearly the same tension but have different thickness. On which string
to waves travel the fastest?
8. What happens to the frequency of transverse wave in a stretched string if its tension is halved and the area of cross section of the
string is doubled?