Skip to Content Go to accessibility page Keyboard shortcuts menu

College Physics for AP® Courses 2e

Glossary

College Physics for AP® Courses 2eGlossary

acoustic impedance: property of medium that makes the propagation of sound waves more difficult

antinode: point of maximum displacement

bow wake: V-shaped disturbance created when the wave source moves faster than the wave propagation speed

Doppler effect: an alteration in the observed frequency of a sound due to motion of either the source or the observer

Doppler shift: the actual change in frequency due to relative motion of source and observer

Doppler-shifted ultrasound: a medical technique to detect motion and determine velocity through the Doppler shift of an echo

fundamental: the lowest-frequency resonance

harmonics: the term used to refer collectively to the fundamental and its overtones

hearing: the perception of sound

infrasound: sounds below 20 Hz

intensity: the power per unit area carried by a wave

intensity reflection coefficient: a measure of the ratio of the intensity of the wave reflected off a boundary between two media relative to the intensity of the incident wave

loudness: the perception of sound intensity

node: point of zero displacement

note: basic unit of music with specific names, combined to generate tunes

overtones: all resonant frequencies higher than the fundamental

phon: the numerical unit of loudness

pitch: the perception of the frequency of a sound

sonic boom: a constructive interference of sound created by an object moving faster than sound

sound: a disturbance of matter that is transmitted from its source outward

sound intensity level: a unitless quantity telling you the level of the sound relative to a fixed standard

sound pressure level: the ratio of the pressure amplitude to a reference pressure

timbre: number and relative intensity of multiple sound frequencies

tone: number and relative intensity of multiple sound frequencies

ultrasound: sounds above 20,000 Hz

Order a print copy

Citation/Attribution

This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's permission.

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Attribution information

If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-physics-ap-courses-2e/pages/1-connection-for-ap-r-courses
If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, then you must include on every digital page view the following attribution:
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-physics-ap-courses-2e/pages/1-connection-for-ap-r-courses

Citation information

Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.
- Authors: Gregg Wolfe, Erika Gasper, John Stoke, Julie Kretchman, David Anderson, Nathan Czuba, Sudhi Oberoi, Liza Pujji, Irina Lyublinskaya, Douglas Ingram
- Publisher/website: OpenStax
- Book title: College Physics for AP® Courses 2e
- Publication date: Jul 19, 2022
- Location: Houston, Texas
- Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/college-physics-ap-courses-2e/pages/1-connection-for-ap-r-courses
- Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/college-physics-ap-courses-2e/pages/17-glossary

© Jul 9, 2024 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.