Damage Your Hearing: Understanding the Sound Level of Cicadas

What is the intensity of the sound produced by a single male cicada?

Part 1: I= W/m² Your last answer was interpreted as follows: 3.63 x 10^(-4)

What would be the sound level detected if you doubled the distance between the sound meter and the cicada?

Part 2: β=

What sound level does the meter read when there are 14 male cicadas, all 0.848 m from the sound meter, with identical songs?

Part 3: β= dB

Answer:

Let's break down the answers to the questions about the sound level of cicadas:

Intensity of the sound produced by a single male cicada

The formula to calculate the intensity of sound produced by a cicada is given by: I = P/A, where I is the intensity, P is the power, and A is the surface area.

Using the formula provided, we can calculate the intensity of sound produced by a single male cicada as:

I = (10^(85.6/10)) / (4π (0.848)^2) = 3.63 x 10^(-4) W/m².

Sound level detected when doubling the distance from the cicada

The formula to calculate the change in sound level when the distance is doubled is given by: β = β₀ - 20 log (d/d₀), where β₀ is the original sound level, d₀ is the original distance, and d is the new distance.

After doubling the distance to 1.696m, the sound level detected would be β = 97.2 dB.

Sound level with 14 male cicadas at 0.848m distance

When there are 14 male cicadas, all at a distance of 0.848m from the sound meter with identical songs, the sound level that the meter reads would be 97.2 dB.