Question

Which of the following frequencies can be heard by the human ear?
A. 10 Hz
B. 15 Hz
C. 30,000 Hz
D. 15,000 Hz

Answer 1

Hint: Sound wave is a longitudinal wave or a pressure wave. Vibration from a source travels through a medium to the human ear and then we can hear a sound. Human ear can hear the sound between a definite range of frequency. The range of frequency us from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz

Complete step-by-step answer:
Longitudinal waves can be defined as the wave where the particles in the medium where the wave is propagating move parallel to or in the direction of the wave. Now, if we consider the sound wave it propagates as the particles in the medium are compressed and expanded by the vibration in the direction of propagation of the vibration. The concept is similar to the propagation of the longitudinal wave. So, we can say that the sound wave propagates as a longitudinal wave.
A sound wave travels through air to the human ear and the eardrum vibrates from the vibration of the incoming sound wave. These vibrations can be heard as sound.
The shrillness of sound we hear depends on the pitch or frequency of the sound and the loudness of the sound depends on the amplitude of the sound wave.
Human ear can hear sound with frequency range 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
So, from the question we can only hear sound with frequency 15,000 Hz.

So, the correct answer is “Option D”.

Note: Sound with frequency lower than 20 Hz is called the infrasound. Sound with frequency higher than 20,000 Hz is called the ultrasound. We cannot hear both infrasound and ultrasound. There are few animals which can hear infrasound and ultrasound.