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Decibel Scale - Questions

The Decibel Scale Concept Builder is comprised of 36 questions. The questions are divided into 12 different Question Groups. Questions in the same group are rather similar to one another. The Concept Builder is coded to select at random a question from each group until a student is successful with that group of questions.

There are three difficulty levels in the Concept Builder. Those three difficulty levels are differentiated as follows:
 
  • Apprentice: Question Groups 1-4. Includes only 4 Question Groups. The ratio between the intensities of the two sounds is at most three powers of ten.
  • Master: Question Groups 1-8. Includes the first four Question Groups plug four additional Question Groups. The ratio of the two sound intensities can be as high as six powers of ten.
  • Wizard: Question Groups 5-12. Includes the middle four Question Groups plus four additional Question Groups. The ratio of the two sound intensities can be as high as eight powers of ten.

The questions from each group are shown below. Teachers are encouraged to view the questions in order to judge which difficulty levels are most appropriate for their classes.

The Physics Classroom grants teachers and other users the right to print these questions for private use. Users are also granted the right to copy the text and modify it for their own use. However, this document should not be uploaded to other servers for distribution to and/or display by others. The Physics Classroom website should remain the only website or server from which the document is distributed or displayed. We also provide a PDF that teachers can use under the same conditions. We have included a link to the PDF near the bottom of this page.

 

 
 

Decibel Scale

 
Question Group 1
Question 1
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 60 dB. Sound source B is 10 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 2
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 70 dB. Sound source B is 10 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 3
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 80 dB. Sound source B is 10 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 2
Question 4
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 60 dB. Sound source B is 100 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?


 

 
 
Question 5
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 70 dB. Sound source B is 100 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 6
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 80 dB. Sound source B is 100 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 3
Question 7
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 50 dB. Sound source B is 1000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 8
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 60 dB. Sound source B is 1000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?


 

 
 
Question 9
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 70 dB. Sound source B is 1000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 4
Question 10
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 60 dB. Sound source B is 1/100-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?


 

 
 
Question 11
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 70 dB. Sound source B is 1/100-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 12
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 80 dB. Sound source B is 1/100-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 5
Question 13
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 50 dB. Sound source B is 10 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 14
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 60 dB. Sound source B is 10 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?


 

 
 
Question 15
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 70 dB. Sound source B is 10 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 6
Question 16
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 60 dB. Sound source B is 1/1000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?


 

 
 
Question 17
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 70 dB. Sound source B is 1/1000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 18
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 80 dB. Sound source B is 1/1000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 7
Question 19
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 40 dB. Sound source B is 100 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 


 

 
 
Question 20
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 50 dB. Sound source B is 100 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 21
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 60 dB. Sound source B is 100 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?


 

 
 

 
Question Group 8
Question 22
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 40 dB. Sound source B is 1000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 23
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 50 dB. Sound source B is 1000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 24
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 60 dB. Sound source B is 1000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?


 

 
 

 
Question Group 9
Question 25
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 70 dB. Sound source B is 1/10 000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 


 

 
 
Question 26
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 80 dB. Sound source B is 1/10 000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 27
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 90 dB. Sound source B is 1/10 000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 10
Question 28
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 30 dB. Sound source B is 10 000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 


 

 
 
Question 29
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 40 dB. Sound source B is 10 000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 30
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 50 dB. Sound source B is 10 000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 11
Question 31
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 30 dB. Sound source B is 100 000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 32
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 40 dB. Sound source B is 100 000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 
Question 33
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 50 dB. Sound source B is 100 000 000 times more intense. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 

 
 

 
Question Group 12
Question 34
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 80 dB. Sound source B is 1/100 000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 


 

 
 
Question 35
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 90 dB. Sound source B is 1/100 000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?
 


 

 
 
Question 36
Sound source A has a deciBel rating of 100 dB. Sound source B is 1/100 000-th the intensity of A. What is the deciBel rating of B?