Question
What is the sound intensity level in decibels of ultrasound of intensity 105 W/m210^5\textrm{ W/m}^2 , used to pulverize tissue during surgery?
Question by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Final Answer

170 dB170\textrm{ dB}

Solution video

OpenStax College Physics for AP® Courses, Chapter 17, Problem 72 (Problems & Exercises)

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Video Transcript
This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. The intensity of the ultrasound used to destroy some human tissue during surgery is 10 to the 5 watts per square meter and the question asks us to find the sound intensity level which is in decibels. So the sound intensity level is 10 times logarithm of the intensity divided by the intensity of the threshold of hearing. So that's 10 times logarithm of 10 to the 5 watts per square meter divided by 10 to the minus 12 watts per square meter which is 170 decibels.