Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ii/paper-4/38c/solution

For a plane acoustic wave propagating along , the linear momentum equation and dispersion give and . Therefore the instantaneous acoustic intensity is
For harmonic complex amplitudes the time average instead has the factor one half, .
For a radial velocity potential, set . The spherical wave equation reduces to , so
No incoming radiation from infinity means . Linearizing the moving-surface condition at gives , with real parts understood. Write the outgoing solution as . Its radial derivative at is . Therefore the outgoing acoustic field of a pulsating sphere is
In the far field the velocity amplitude has magnitude . Multiply its average plane-wave intensity by the spherical area to obtain the mean acoustic power of a pulsating sphere:
This is positive outward radiated power, evaluated to leading quadratic order in the small real displacement amplitude.

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