| |
The Doppler Effect - loose page.
You have probably heard of the Doppler Effect in conjunction with recent
improvements in radar technology: "Doppler Radar" is capable of measuring the
velocities of winds, and is instrumental in the identification of tornados. The
basic principle is familiar to you when driving as well: the pitch (frequency) of the horn
or siren of an approaching vehicle is higher than when it passes you and
recedes. This "Doppler Shift" in the frequency also has an important medical
usage in the measurement of the speeds of moving fluids inside the body.
When an object which emits a wave (sound or light), the frequency is
determined by the object itself. The
wavelength,
however, is a function of the
speed of propagation in
the medium as well as the motion of the object within the medium. When the
source of the wave approaches you at a speed u s, the wavelength is
shortened by an amount u s T, where T is the
period of the wave.
This is simply due to the motion of the source: when the wave cycle started,
the source was at point "a", but when the cycle ends the source has moved u
s T closer. (See a 37K
quicktime
animation). Since the "received" wavelength is related to the "source"
wavelength by
l r = l s - u s T
= l s - u s
l s / c
= l s (c - u s) / c,
the received frequency is related to the source frequency by
Hence the frequency you hear is higher than the frequency
emitted by the approaching source. As the source passes you and recedes, the
"speed of approach" u s becomes negative, and the frequency you hear
becomes lower than the frequency emitted by the now receding source. This shift
in frequency is the Doppler Shift.
The same principle applies when the source is stationary but you are
approaching it at a speed u r. Now the received wavelength is
related to the source wavelength by
l r = l s - u r l r / c
= l s c / (c + u r)
(since the moving receiver now determines the period of the
wave) and the received frequency is related to the source frequency by
If both the source and receiver are moving and u
s and u r are the speeds with which they are approaching
each other (respectively), the Doppler Shift is
n r = n s (c + u r) / (c - u
s).
How can this be used to measure (for instance) the speed of
flowing blood in vivo? If u is the speed of the blood and n s is the frequency of an ultrasonic source,
two Doppler Shifts occur as the source is reflected from the moving blood.
First the frequency is shifted as the blood "receives" it, since the blood is
moving toward the source. Then, when the echo is "sent" from the blood to the
monitor the frequency is shifted again, this time due to the motion of the
source. The resultant shift is
n r = n s (c + u) / (c - u).
This allows us to determine the speed of the blood as
u = c (n r - n s) / (n
r + n s).
So if the speed of sound in blood is 1500 m/s and a
transmission of 1 MHz results in a 1.05 MHz echo, the speed of the blood is
36.6 m/s. Since the measurement is instantaneous, the speed of blood during
pulsatile flow can
be measured as a function of time. Comparing such measurements to the results
of the Pulsatile
Flow Mathematica notebook, we find the simulation to reproduce the correct
orders of magnitude in terms of both maximum blood velocity and time of flow
for blood leaving the heart.
|
