
State what is meant by the acoustic impedance
of a medium.
Two media have acoustic impedances
and
. The intensity reflection coefficient
for the boundary between the two media is given by

Describe the effect on the transmission of ultrasound through a boundary where there is a large difference between the acoustic impedances of the two media.
Data for the acoustic impedance
and the absorption coefficient
for fat and for muscle are shown in the table below.
The thickness
of the layer of fat on an animal, as illustrated in the figure below, is to be investigated using ultrasound.
The intensity of the parallel ultrasound beam entering the surface S of the layer of fat is
. The beam is reflected from the boundary between fat and muscle. The intensity of the reflected ultrasound detected at the surface S of the fat is
. Calculate
the intensity reflection coefficient at the boundary between the fat and the muscle,
the thickness
of the layer of fat.