How Does Distance Affect Perceived Loudness and Intensity in Tuning Forks?

[Smartie404]

This is my first post, so I really hope I'm not in the wrong area. I'm doing a lab is class and I'm confused as to what formula I'm supposed to use.

Problem: Use the tuning forks to test the difference between perceived loudness and actual intensity. Use the formula to calculate intensity based on distance and your own ranking scale to give a number for loudness.

Tuning Fork 320 Hz.

Distance(m) .2 .15 .17 .1
Intensity(1-10) 2 1.6 1.4 1

Thanks in advance.

 

[Claude Bile]

This should be in the homework section.

The formula you are after is the inverse square law.

Claude.

 

[m2003]

Hello and welcome to the scientific community! It's great to see you taking an interest in sound and conducting experiments in class.

In response to your post, it seems like you are trying to determine the relationship between perceived loudness and actual intensity of a sound using tuning forks. This is a great experiment and can help you understand the concept of sound intensity and how it is perceived by the human ear.

To answer your question about the formula you should use, the relationship between sound intensity and distance is given by the inverse square law. This means that as the distance from the source of sound increases, the intensity decreases by the square of the distance. The formula for this is I = 1/d^2, where I is the intensity and d is the distance.

To calculate the intensity values for the given distances, you can use this formula and plug in the values for d. For example, for a distance of 0.2m, the intensity would be 1/(0.2)^2 = 25. For a distance of 0.15m, the intensity would be 1/(0.15)^2 = 44.4. You can continue this calculation for the other distances and record the intensity values in your table.

As for the perceived loudness, this is a subjective measure and can vary from person to person. Your ranking scale of 1-10 is a good way to measure this, but keep in mind that it may not be a precise measure. You can use your own judgment and perception to assign loudness values for each distance and record them in the table.

I hope this helps you with your lab and understanding the relationship between sound intensity and perceived loudness. Remember to always be curious and ask questions in science – that's how we learn and make new discoveries. Good luck with your experiment!