GCSE PHYSICS - What are the Uses of Ultrasound? - What is Range and Direction Finding? - How is Ultrasound used by Fishing Boats and Bats?

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The Uses of Ultrasound.

What is Range and Direction Finding?

The difference in time between emitted and reflected ultrasound
waves can be used to show how far away the reflecting surface is.

A boat on the sea can send a beam of ultrasound down to
the sea floor where it is reflected back upwards to a detector
on the boat. If both the speed of sound in the water
and the time taken for the ultrasound echo to get back to
the boat are known, then the depth of the sea water at
that place can be calculated since distance = speed x time.

Ultrasound can be used by fishing boats to find fish
since a shoal of fish between the boat and
the sea floor will return the echo more quickly.

Bats use ultrasound echoes to build up an
image of their environment in darkness.
They can locate insects for food in the air and know
their speed and direction by analyzing the reflected sound.

Other uses of ultrasound are scanning and cleaning.

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