Doppler Effect: (Ref.

: H & R, Physics Part I)

When a listener moves toward a stationary source of sound, he hears the sound with higher pitch
(frequency) than when he is at rest. If the listener moves away from the stationary source, he
hears a lower pitch (frequency) than when he is at rest. Similar results are obtained when the
source is in motion toward or away from a stationary listener. The motion-related frequency
change of the sound wave is called Doppler effect of the sound.
The Doppler effect was proposed in 1842 for the case of sound wave by the Austrian physicist
Christian Doppler from the analogy of his first observation of changing the color of a luminous
body due to the relative motion of the body and the observer. The Doppler effect holds not only
for the sound waves but also for all the waves of the electromagnetic spectrum, including
microwaves, radio waves, and visible light.
Let us analysis the Doppler effect for the case of sound waves, and consider a frame of reference
(axes system) at rest in the medium through which the sound travels. What happens in different
cases, due to the motion of the observer and the source with respect to one another, are discussed
below.
(i) Observer (detector) moving, source at rest:
In Fig. 1, an observer (detector) is moving toward a stationary source at speed VD. The circles in
this figure, representing the wavefronts, are drawn to be one wavelength apart, and they move
(travel) through the medium with speed v.
Let us watch the detector for time t. If the detector were at rest, it would receive vt /  waves in
time t , where  is the wavelength of the sound wave. Because of its motion toward the source,
it receives VD t /  additional waves in this same time t . The frequency  / that the detector
receives is the number of waves (cycles) reached at the detector per unit time. So
vt /   VD t /  v  VD v  VD
/   
t  v /
v  VD
Or,  /   ………………………..(1)
v

Fig. 1: The Doppler effect due to motion of the observer (detector).

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If the detector moves away from the stationary source, it receives VD t /  waves less in time t ,
so the observed frequency in this case is
vt /   VD t /  v  VD v  VD
/   
t  v /
v  VD
Or,  /   ………………………..(2)
v
So, for the general case of a resting source and a moving detector, we have
v  VD
/  , ………………………..(3)
v
where the plus sign holds for motion of detector toward the source and the minus sign for
motion away from the source.
(ii) Source moving, detector at rest:
When the source moves toward a stationary detector with speed VS , the effect is a shortening of
the wavelength, as exhibited in Fig. 2, in the direction in which the source is moving.
Let T ( 1 /  ) be the period of oscillation of the source of sound. During this interval, the source
moves toward the detector by a distance VS T or VS / and the wavelength is shortened by that
amount. Thus, the wavelength of the sound arriving at the detector is not   v /  but
 /  (v /   VS /  ) . The frequency heard by the detector is

v v v
/  /
  ……………………(4)
 v /   VS /  v  VS

Fig. 2: The Doppler effect due to motion of the source. Wavefront 1 was emitted by the source
when it was at S1,… etc.

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If the source moves away from the detector, the wavelength of the sound wave reaching at the
detector is /  (  VS /  )  (v /   VS /  ) . So the observed frequency is

v v v
/  /
  ……………………(5)
 v /   VS /  v  VS

Hence, for the general case of a moving source and a resting detector, we have
v
 /  , ……………………(6)
v  VS

where the minus sign holds for motion of the source toward the detector and the plus sign for
motion away from the detector.
(iii) Source and detector both moving:
We can combine Eqs. (3) and (6) to produce the general Doppler effect equation, in which both
the source and the detector are moving with respect to the medium.
v  VD
 /  , ………………………..(3)
v
v
 /  , …………………..……(6)
v  VS

Replacing the  in Eq. (6) (the frequency of the source) by the  / of Eq. (3) (the observed
frequency of the moving detector) leads to

 v  VD  v v  VD
 /     , …………………….(7)
 v  v  VS v  VS

where the upper signs (+ numerator, - denominator) correspond to the motion of the source and
the detector toward each other, and the lower signs (- numerator, + denominator) correspond to
the motion of the source and the detector away from each other. Putting VS  0 in Eq. (7)
reduces it to Eq. (3) and putting VD  0 reduces it to Eq. (6), as we expect.

Problem-1: A police car, parked by the roadside, sounds its siren, which has a frequency of
1000 Hz. The speed of sound is v  343 m/s.
(a) What frequency  / do you hear if you are driving directly toward the police car at 33
m/s?
(b) If you are driving away from the police car at this same speed, what frequency will you
now hear?
(c) Suppose that you are at rest and the police car is coming toward you at 33 m/s. What
frequency do you now hear?
(d) Suppose that the police car is going away from you at this same speed. What frequency
do you hear?
(e) Suppose that both you and the police car are driving towards each other at 33 m/s. What
frequency do you hear?
(f) Finally, suppose that both you and the police car are driving away from each other at 33
m/s. What frequency do you hear?
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