The inverse-square law says that the intensity that you hear/measure of a sound changes depending on how far away you are from the sound source. More precisely, it is inversely proportional to the square of thedistance from the sound source. That is,I ∝1d2, (1)where I is the sound intensity and d is the distance. (This law ignores things like reflections from walls in a room; it's most appropriate for a sound source in the open outdoors, or in a room where the walls don't reflect much.)
(a)If a jackhammer 50 feet away has a sound level of 95 dB, what is the sound level (in dB) at 500 feet?
(b) What is the sound level (in dB) at 1 mile?
(c) What is this sound intensity for your answer in (b), in W/m2?