Physics B |5.
1 Doppler Effect
Doppler Effect
Background:
The Doppler effect is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to its
source. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and
moves away from an observer. The received frequency is higher during the approach, it is
identical at the instant of passing by, and it is lower while it moves away.
Objectives:
Draw pictures of high and low frequency wave fronts.
Explain why the pitch of a car horn changes as it approaches and then drives past.
Explain the Doppler effect, with diagrams, and give examples of where it can be heard.
Key Terms:
Pitch – How low or high a tone sounds to a person
Frequency – wiggles per second (moves back and forth)
Doppler Effect – As the source of a wave (sound or light) approaches an observer,
the observer sees/hears a higher frequency than the source actually is emitting. As
the source moves away from an observer, the observer sees/hears a lower
frequency wave than the source actually is emitting.
Procedure:
1. Go to the physics simulation entitled Doppler Effect at the website:
http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/HTML5/doppler.html
2. Press play, watch how the waves move. Experiment with altering the source velocity (in units
of the speed of sound). Describe what you see in the table below. (5 points)
Source Describe events
velocit
y
-2 The waves move to the left where they bunch up at the left
0 The waves stay in one place and the waves are emitted evenly
2 The waves move to the right where they bunch up at the right
3. Now experiment with the observer velocity and source velocity. Explain what you
observed below, you change observer velocity: (5 points)
Source Observer Describe events
velocity velocity
-2 -2 The observer velocity moves to the left at the same speed as
the source velocity moves to the left; the spread out waves hit the
observer
0 0 The observer velocity stays in one place while the source of
velocity also stays in one place
2 2 The observer velocity moves to the right (positive) at the same
speed as the source of velocity moves to the right; the bunched up
waves are behind the observer
4. How does the observer position impact the experiment? (3 points)
a. The observer will either hear the bunched up waves (high frequency), the spread
out waves (low frequency), or the waves that stay in one place (normal)
5. Go to the following website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3RfULw7aAY, which is an
example of Doppler Shift using a car horn.
6. Describe what you heard. (2 points)
a. When the vehicle was approaching the observer, the pitch was high. When the
vehicle was next to the observer, the pitch was normal. When the vehicle was
moving away from the observer, the pitch was low.
Analysis & Conclusions
1 point each for questions 1, 2, and 3. 4 points will be awarded for question 4.
1. When an automobile moves towards a listener, the sound of its horn seems relatively:
a. Low pitched
b. High pitched
c. Normal
2. When an automobile moves away from a listener, its horn seems relatively:
a. Low pitched
b. High pitched
c. Normal
3. The changed pitch of the doppler effect is due to changes in:
a. Wave speed
b. Wave frequency
c. Wave amplitude
4. Describe (in your own words) how the doppler effect works:
a. The observer will hear/see a higher frequency wave than the source of wave
(sound or light) is actually producing if the source is coming close to the
observer. The observer will hear/see a lower frequency wave than the source of
wave is actually producing if the source is going away from the observer
