[Physics] Doppler effect “apparent frequency”

acousticsdoppler effectfrequency

In discussing Doppler effect, we use the word "apparent frequency". Does it mean that the frequency of the sound is still that of the source and it is some physiological phenomenon in the listener's ears that give rise to the Doppler effect?

Best Answer

I would have to see the words in context, but the description "apparent frequency" seems strange to me. The frequency your ear detects is exactly what the most sophisticated scientific instrument would measure. The Doppler shift is real in that the frequency your ear detects is really the sound frequency in your frame.

I would guess "apparent frequency" means that in your frame the frequency of the source is different to the frequency measured in the rest frame of the source. So you could argue that in your frame the frequency of the source "appears" to be different. However I would argue that it doesn't just "appear" to be different, it really is different!

You'll find the same sort of confusion when you start learning special relativity. In your inertial frame an object moving at nearly the speed of light has its length contracted, that is you will measure the moving object to be shorter than someone making the same measurement in the object's rest frame. But there's nothing "apparent" about it: in your frame the object really is shorter.