How sound waves work...the basics

In ultrasound, what is the first basic step that sound follows to produce images?

• Sound pulses are created by our transducer

• Sound pulses travel through biologic tissue

• Reflections return to the transducer

In ultrasound, sound pulses travel through biologic tissue, also known as _______.

• media

• liquid

• plasma

• fiber

What happens when sound pulses strike boundaries between structures in the body during ultrasound imaging?

• They are absorbed

• Reflections return to the transducer and are processed into images

• They disappear

Name four kinds of waves mentioned in the basics of sound waves.

• light, heat, sound, magnetic

• sound, water, seismic, radio

• sound, light, gamma, x-ray

• heat, sound, radio, ultraviolet

Sound waves are ________ waves.

• mechanical

• electromagnetic

• transverse

• surface

Sound waves are ________ waves.

• longitudinal

• transverse

• surface

• torsional

Sound can travel in a vacuum.

• True

• False

Compressed means ________ together (region of higher pressure and density).

• squeezed

• separated

• expanded

• loosened

Rarefied means ________ apart (region of lower pressure and density).

• stretched

• pushed

• compressed

• joined

What do the regions labeled 'compressions' represent in a sound wave?

• Regions of higher pressure and density

• Regions of lower pressure and density

• Regions of no pressure

• Regions of silence