The Doppler effect occurs not only for sound, but for any wave when there is relative motion between the observer and the source. The greater the relative speed, the greater the effect. Relative motion apart decreases frequency. In general, then, relative motion of source and observer toward one another increases the received frequency. A higher frequency is received by the observer moving toward the source, and a lower frequency is received by an observer moving away from the source. Similarly, the observer on the left receives a longer wavelength, and hence he hears a lower frequency. Because the observer on the right in case (b) receives a shorter wavelength, the frequency she receives must be higher. The sound moves in a medium and has the same speed v in that medium whether the source is moving or not. We know that wavelength and frequency are related by v = f λ , where v is the fixed speed of sound. The observer moving toward the source receives them at a higher frequency, and the person moving away from the source receives them at a lower frequency. Finally, if the observers move, as in case (c), the frequency at which they receive the compressions changes. Thus, the wavelength is shorter in the direction the source is moving (on the right in case b), and longer in the opposite direction (on the left in case b). This moving emission point causes the air compressions to be closer together on one side and farther apart on the other. Each compression of the air moves out in a sphere from the point at which it was emitted, but the point of emission moves. If the source is moving, the situation is different. If the source is stationary, then all of the spheres representing the air compressions in the sound wave are centered on the same point, and the stationary observers on either side hear the same wavelength and frequency as emitted by the source (case a). Each disturbance spreads out spherically from the point at which the sound is emitted. What causes the Doppler shift? The figure below illustrates sound waves emitted by stationary and moving sources in a stationary air mass. The Doppler effect is an alteration in the observed frequency of a sound due to motion of either the source or the observer. Doppler’s effect explains the perceived increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move toward (or away from) each other.
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