Sound pressure

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The movement of the molecules of the medium generate variations in the density and pressure in the medium, which can be detected.

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Mechanisms

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Concept

Mechanisms

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Sound Pressure

Description

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As sound propagates, it causes displacement of molecules at the boundary of the system, leading to impacts against the wall. These impacts transfer momentum to the wall, resulting in a force. Because the force is generated by a high number of particles, its effect depends on the surface area of the system, giving rise to a pressure.

It's important to understand that sound pressure is not the same as ambient pressure. In air, the latter is on the order of $10^5,Pa$, whereas sound pressure is typically much lower than $1,Pa$.

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Formation of pressure

Concept

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If we displace a cube's face, we generate an increase or decrease in concentration, which leads to a decrease or increase in collisions of molecules with the face of the volume:

Since pressure is the transfer of momentum due to collisions of molecules with the wall, the change in volume leads to an increase or decrease in pressure.

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Model

Concept

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Variables

Symbol
Text
Variables
Units
$\rho$
rho
Mean density
kg/m^3
$u$
u
Molecule speed
m/s
$L$
L
Noise level, air
dB
$S$
S
Section or Area
m^2
$p$
p
Sound pressure
Pa
$c$
c
Speed of sound
m/s
$t$
t
Time
s
$\Delta V$
DV
Volume with molecules
m^3
$\lambda$
lambda
Wavelength of Sound
m

Parameters

Symbol
Text
Variables
Units


Selected parameter

Symbol
Variables
Value
Units
MKS Value
MKS Units

Calculations

Symbol
Equation
Solved
Translated

Equation

#
Equation

$ \Delta V = S \lambda $

DV = S * lambda


$ F =\displaystyle\frac{ d p }{ d t }$

F = dp / dt


$ L = 20 \log_{10}\left(\displaystyle\frac{ p }{ p_{ref} }\right)$

L = 20* log10( p / p_ref )


$ p \equiv\displaystyle\frac{ F }{ S }$

p = F / S


$ p = \rho c u $

p = rho * c * u


$ Z =\displaystyle\frac{ p }{ u }$

Z = p / u


$ Z = \rho c $

Z = rho * c

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Definition of pressure

Equation

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To model the motion of liquid elements, it is necessary to move from a point-force and mass view to elements of volume exposed to forces on one of their faces and mass calculated with density.

Therefore, pressure is defined as force per unit area and is calculated using:

$ p \equiv\displaystyle\frac{ F }{ S }$

$F$
Force of the medium
$N$
$p$
Pressure
$Pa$
$S$
Section or Area
$m^2$

where P is pressure, F is force, and A is the area on which the force acts. The unit of pressure in the International System of Units is the pascal (Pa), which is defined as one newton per square meter (N/m²). Pressure can vary depending on depth, height of the liquid column, and other factors.

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Force exerted by molecules

Equation

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According to Newton, force can be expressed as the change in momento de la partícula ($p$). This momentum is generated by the rebound of particles, which transfer momentum to the wall. Since momentum is conserved and the particle's momentum changes from $p_{particle}$ to $-p_{particle}$ upon rebound, by momentum conservation we then have:

$p_{particle} = p_{wall} - p_{particle}$



which implies

$p_{wall} = 2p_{particle}$



Thus, the change in the momento de la partícula ($p$) on the wall is the time ($t$), generating force exerted by the Molecules ($F$), which is

$ F =\displaystyle\frac{ d p }{ d t }$

$F$
Force exerted by the Molecules
$N$
$p$
Momento de la partícula
$kg m/s$
$t$
Time
$s$

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Volume with molecules

Equation

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When a sound wave travels through ($$), it expands and contracts over a distance on the order of ($$), resulting in a volume variation depending on the section or Area ($S$) perpendicular to the direction of propagation.

Therefore, the volume variation is equal to:

$ \Delta V = S \lambda $

$S$
Section or Area
$m^2$
$\Delta V$
Volume with molecules
$m^3$
$\lambda$
Wavelength of Sound
$m$

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Variation of the moment by molecules

Equation

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The sound pressure ($p$) can be understood as the momentum density calculated from the mean density ($\rho$) and the molecule speed ($u$), which is then multiplied by the speed of sound ($c$) via

$ p = \rho c u $

$\rho$
Mean density
$kg/m^3$
$u$
Molecule speed
$m/s$
$p$
Sound pressure
$Pa$
$c$
Speed of sound
$m/s$

The variation in momentum $dp$ is associated with the mass of the molecules $m$ and the velocity of sound $u$ through:

$dp = 2mu \approx mu$



Thus, in a time interval equal to the period $dt \approx T$, we have:

$F=\displaystyle\frac{dp}{dt}=\displaystyle\frac{mu}{T}$



Therefore, the sound pressure ($p$) can be calculated using the pressure



the speed of sound ($c$) is

$ c = \displaystyle\frac{ \lambda }{ T }$



and the volume with molecules ($\Delta V$) which varies

$ \Delta V = S \lambda $



as follows:

$p=\displaystyle\frac{1}{S} \displaystyle\frac{dp}{dt}=\displaystyle\frac{1}{S}\displaystyle\frac{mu}{T}=\displaystyle\frac{muc}{ScT}=\displaystyle\frac{muc}{S\lambda}=\displaystyle\frac{muc}{\Delta V}=\rho u c$



In the last term, both numerator and denominator are multiplied by $c$. The expression in the denominator represents the volume of gas displaced by the sound in $T$, so we can replace the mass divided by this volume with density, yielding:

$ p = \rho c u $

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Noise level as function of the sound pressure, air

Equation

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The noise level, air ($L$) encompasses a wide range of the sound pressure ($p$), making it useful to define a scale that mitigates this difficulty. To do so, we can work with the logarithm of the pressure normalized by a value corresponding to zero on this scale. If we take the minimum pressure that a person can detect, defined as the reference pressure ($p_{ref}$), we can define a scale using:

$ L = 20 \log_{10}\left(\displaystyle\frac{ p }{ p_{ref} }\right)$

$L$
Noise level, air
$dB$
$p_{ref}$
Reference pressure
3.65e+10
$Pa$
$p$
Sound pressure
$Pa$



which starts at 0 for the audible range. In the case of air, the reference pressure ($p_{ref}$) is $20 \mu Pa$.

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Acoustic impedance

Equation

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The concept of impedance ($Z$) provides a measure of the system's resistance to transmit the sound wave. It considers a pressure acting and establishes a measure in which the exposed medium is displaced. In this way, the sound pressure ($p$) is compared to the molecule speed ($u$).

Therefore, impedance ($Z$) is defined as:

$ Z =\displaystyle\frac{ p }{ u }$

$Z$
Impedance
$kg/m^2s$
$u$
Molecule speed
$m/s$
$p$
Sound pressure
$Pa$

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Impedance in waves

Equation

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To calculate impedance ($Z$) from the mean density ($\rho$) and the speed of sound ($c$), the formula used is:

$ Z = \rho c $

$Z$
Impedance
$kg/m^2s$
$\rho$
Mean density
$kg/m^3$
$c$
Speed of sound
$m/s$

Since impedance ($Z$) is calculated from the sound pressure ($p$) and the molecule speed ($u$) using

$ Z =\displaystyle\frac{ p }{ u }$



along with the expression for the sound pressure ($p$) in terms of the mean density ($\rho$) and the speed of sound ($c$),

$ p = \rho c u $



we obtain

$ Z = \rho c $

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