12.7 Ultrasound  (Page 7/10)

If audible sound follows a rule of thumb similar to that for ultrasound, in terms of its absorption, would you expect the high or low frequencies from your neighbor’s stereo to penetrate into your house? How does this expectation compare with your experience?

Elephants and whales are known to use infrasound to communicate over very large distances. What are the advantages of infrasound for long distance communication?

It is more difficult to obtain a high-resolution ultrasound image in the abdominal region of someone who is overweight than for someone who has a slight build. Explain why this statement is accurate.

Suppose you read that 210-dB ultrasound is being used to pulverize cancerous tumors. You calculate the intensity in watts per centimeter squared and find it is unreasonably high ( ${\text{10}}^5{\text{W/cm}}^2$ ). What is a possible explanation?

What is the sound intensity level in decibels of ultrasound of intensity ${\text{10}}^5{\text{W/m}}^2$ , used to pulverize tissue during surgery?

Is 155-dB ultrasound in the range of intensities used for deep heating? Calculate the intensity of this ultrasound and compare this intensity with values quoted in the text.

Find the sound intensity level in decibels of $2.00\times {\text{10}}^{\mathrm{–2}}{\text{W/m}}^2$ ultrasound used in medical diagnostics.

The time delay between transmission and the arrival of the reflected wave of a signal using ultrasound traveling through a piece of fat tissue was 0.13 ms. At what depth did this reflection occur?

In the clinical use of ultrasound, transducers are always coupled to the skin by a thin layer of gel or oil, replacing the air that would otherwise exist between the transducer and the skin. (a) Using the values of acoustic impedance given in [link] calculate the intensity reflection coefficient between transducer material and air. (b) Calculate the intensity reflection coefficient between transducer material and gel (assuming for this problem that its acoustic impedance is identical to that of water). (c) Based on the results of your calculations, explain why the gel is used.

(a) Calculate the minimum frequency of ultrasound that will allow you to see details as small as 0.250 mm in human tissue. (b) What is the effective depth to which this sound is effective as a diagnostic probe?

(a) Find the size of the smallest detail observable in human tissue with 20.0-MHz ultrasound. (b) Is its effective penetration depth great enough to examine the entire eye (about 3.00 cm is needed)? (c) What is the wavelength of such ultrasound in $\mathrm{0ºC}$ air?

(a) Echo times are measured by diagnostic ultrasound scanners to determine distances to reflecting surfaces in a patient. What is the difference in echo times for tissues that are 3.50 and 3.60 cm beneath the surface? (This difference is the minimum resolving time for the scanner to see details as small as 0.100 cm, or 1.00 mm. Discrimination of smaller time differences is needed to see smaller details.) (b) Discuss whether the period $T$ of this ultrasound must be smaller than the minimum time resolution. If so, what is the minimum frequency of the ultrasound and is that out of the normal range for diagnostic ultrasound?

(a) How far apart are two layers of tissue that produce echoes having round-trip times (used to measure distances) that differ by $\mathrm{0.750\; \mu s}$ ? (b) What minimum frequency must the ultrasound have to see detail this small?

(a) A bat uses ultrasound to find its way among trees. If this bat can detect echoes 1.00 ms apart, what minimum distance between objects can it detect? (b) Could this distance explain the difficulty that bats have finding an open door when they accidentally get into a house?

A dolphin is able to tell in the dark that the ultrasound echoes received from two sharks come from two different objects only if the sharks are separated by 3.50 m, one being that much farther away than the other. (a) If the ultrasound has a frequency of 100 kHz, show this ability is not limited by its wavelength. (b) If this ability is due to the dolphin’s ability to detect the arrival times of echoes, what is the minimum time difference the dolphin can perceive?

A diagnostic ultrasound echo is reflected from moving blood and returns with a frequency 500 Hz higher than its original 2.00 MHz. What is the velocity of the blood? (Assume that the frequency of 2.00 MHz is accurate to seven significant figures and 500 Hz is accurate to three significant figures.)

Ultrasound reflected from an oncoming bloodstream that is moving at 30.0 cm/s is mixed with the original frequency of 2.50 MHz to produce beats. What is the beat frequency? (Assume that the frequency of 2.50 MHz is accurate to seven significant figures.)