A ship uses pulses of sound to measure the depth of the sea.
A pulse is sent vertically downwards from the bottom of the ship. The pulse reflects from the seabed and the echo is detected back at the ship.
The speed of sound in sea water is 1500 m/s.
The echo from the seabed is detected 0.080 s after the pulse is sent.
Calculate the depth of the seabed below the ship.
At another position, two echoes are detected from one pulse. The first echo arrives after 0.024 s. The second echo arrives after 0.080 s.
Calculate the height of the object that produced the first echo above the seabed.
The speed of sound in the sea water at the position in (a) is actually 1530 m/s.
Calculate the error in the depth calculated in (a).
Explain why the ship sends short pulses of sound rather than a continuous sound wave.
112 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Physics 4.1 Wave properties, covering 4.1.1 Waves transfer energy and information, 4.1.2 Frequency, wavelength, amplitude, period and wavefronts, 4.1.3 Longitudinal and transverse waves, 4.1.4 The wave speed equations, 4.1.5 Measuring wave velocity, and 4.1.6 Calculating depth or distance from waves. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.