Physics of Music Physics 121

Quiz 1
• 1. Define the following prefixes (e.g. femto = 10^-15 ):
  • micro
  • kilo
  • milli
  • mega
  • nano
  • iga
  • pico
• 2. Carefully define pressure. What are the English and metric units for pressure?
• 3. A tuning fork sounds; you hear it. Describe in detail what goes on between the fork and you. [Use those vocabulary words!]

• a. How many decibels equal one bel?
• b. At football games the crowd can generate a wave if each person stands up and sits down only after they react to the person next to them standing up. Develop a theory that makes assumptions about human reaction time and/or the time to stand up and sit down in order to predict the velocity of the wave. What is your predicted wave velocity? Is the wave longitudinal or transverse?