Question

It is observed that during march-past we hear a bass drum distinctly from a distance compared to the side drums. Name the characteristic of sound associated with the above observation.

Answer 1

Hint:We can easily say that something which is more louder than the other, can be easily heard by the ears. The base drum creates more loudness than the side drum, hence we hear it clearly. But, loudness is not a characteristic of sound. The characteristic of sound which is dependent on loudness is the answer to this question.

Complete answer:
Loudness is just a property of sound. It has no direct relation as a distinct characteristic to sound. It is measured in decibel and expressed as dB. Loudness is completely dependent upon amplitude of sound wave. Larger the amplitude of sound, larger is the loudness. And, amplitude is a characteristic of sound too.

Amplitude of a sound is defined as the maximum displacement of a sound wave from its mean position. It can be also said as the distance between the crest or trough of the wave to the mean position of the wave. Loudness is directly proportional to the amplitude of sound waves.

Now, loudness is also directly proportional to surface area. Hence more the surface area, more the loudness and more the amplitude. So, it can be stated here that the surface area of the base drum during march past is larger than the side drums. Therefore, the base drum creates more loudness and hence more amplitude.

So, we hear the bass drum more distinctly than the side drums.

Note: It must be noted that the sound of the bass drum is actually heard due to loudness of sound. But as it does not fall as characteristic of sound we cannot consider it as a answer here. Loudness is also directly proportional to intensity of sound. Loudness can be approximately considered to be same as the intensity of sound still different. Intensity of sound is directly proportional to the square to amplitude of sound.