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9.5. Doppler Effect

We have all hear the Doppler effect in action when standing next to fast moving traffic. It is the NEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOW (spelling?) noise a car or motorcycle makes when it drives past you at speed. There are a million videos demonstrating this effect on YouTube - I like this one as he demonstrates it whilst playing Careless Whisper. 

In this section we look at some of the maths behind Doppler shift. Given the speed of the source and/ or observer we will learn how to calculate the perceived increase or decrease in frequecy. We will also look at Doppler shift of electromagnetic waves - otherwise known as red shift. The section has been divided up as follows:

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Doppler Effect

The Doppler Effect

Video Lessons

Chris Doner
Doppler Effect
IB Specific
Khan Academy
Intrroduction to Doppler
Doppler Equation
Physics Online
Doppler Effect

Resources

IB Physics
Topic 9 Notes
IB-Physics.net
Chapter 9 Summary
IB Revision Notes
Isaac Physics
Doppler Effect
Level 4 Beyond IB
Mr. G
9.5 Teaching Notes
9.5 Student Notes

Questions

Cambridge University Press
Topic 9: Add Qs
Topic 9: Add Qs MS
Topic 9: MCQs
CUP Website Link
Freely available online
Dr French's Eclecticon
Interference, Doppler, Polarisation
Interference, Doppler, Polarisation Solutions
Link to Dr French's Site
Extension: Pre-University Material
Grade Gorilla
9.5 (Doppler) MCQ
Topic 9 (Waves) End Quiz
Quick IB Specific Mixed MCQs
Mr. G
9.5 Formative Assessment
Topic 9 Summary Qs
IB Specific Questions
Moving Source/ Observer

Moving Source and Moving Observer

geogebra_logo.png

The follow simulation by Geogebra allows you to change the source and observer velocity and determine the effect on the perceived frequency. Write out the two equations, and make sure you are confident in each case whether to use a '+' or '-' sign.

Video Lessons

Resources

IB Physics
Topic 9 Notes
IB-Physics.net
Chapter 9 Summary
IB Revision Notes
Isaac Physics
Doppler in 1D
Level 4 Beyond IB
Mr. G
9.5 Teaching Notes
9.5 Student Notes

Questions

Cambridge University Press
Topic 9: Add Qs
Topic 9: Add Qs MS
Topic 9: MCQs
CUP Website Link
Freely available online
Grade Gorilla
9.5 (Doppler) MCQ
Topic 9 (Waves) End Quiz
Quick IB Specific Mixed MCQs
Mr. G
9.5 Formative Assessment
Topic 9 Summary Qs
IB Specific Questions
Electromagnetic Doppler

Doppler with Electromagnetic Waves

Video Lessons

Chris Doner
EM Doppler
IB Specific
Khan Academy
Red Shift Intro

Resources

IB Physics
Topic 9 Notes
IB-Physics.net
Chapter 9 Summary
IB Revision Notes
Isaac Physics
Doppler EM
Level 4 Beyond IB
Mr. G
9.5 Teaching Notes
9.5 Student Notes

Questions

Cambridge University Press
Topic 9: Add Qs
Topic 9: Add Qs MS
Topic 9: MCQs
CUP Website Link
Freely available online
Dr French's Eclecticon
Interference, Doppler, Polarisation
Interference, Doppler, Polarisation Solutions
Link to Dr French's Site
Extension: Pre-University Material
Grade Gorilla
9.5 (Doppler) MCQ
Topic 9 (Waves) End Quiz
Quick IB Specific Mixed MCQs
Isaac Physics
Red Shift
Hubbles law not relevant
Mr. G
9.5 Formative Assessment
Topic 9 Summary Qs
IB Specific Questions

... and another little Physics joke to finish - DrR

"A cop pulls over a physicist for running a red light. The physicist tells the cop that from his point of view, the light was green, not red. So the cop gives him a speeding ticket."

Additional Resources

Additional Resources

IB Questions

A question by question breakdown of the IB papers by year is shown below to allow you to filter questions by topic. Hopefully you have access to many of these papers through your school system. If available, there may be some links to online sources of questions, though please be patient if the links are broken! (DrR: If you do find some broken links, please contact me through the site)

 

Questions on this topic (Section 9) are shown in royal blue.

Use this grid to practice past IB questions topic by topic. You can see from the colours how similar the question topic breakdown is year by year. The more you can familiarise yourself with the IB question style the better - eventually you will come to spot those tricks and types of questions that reappear each year. 

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