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The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. More simply, the speed of sound is how fast vibrations travel. At 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound in air, is about 343 m/s (1,125 ft/s; 1,235 km/h; 767 mph; 667 kn), or 1 km in 2.91 s or one mile in 4.69 s.
The speed of sound in any chemical element in the fluid phase has one temperature-dependent value. In the solid phase, different types of sound wave may be propagated, each with its own speed: among these types of wave are longitudinal (as in fluids), transversal, and (along a surface or plate) extensional.
Most performance and flight planning graphs and tables use either degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit or both. The Kelvin scale, however, is used for Mach number calculations. For example, the speed of sound in dry air is =, where: is the speed of sound in knots,
At Mach 0.65, u is 65% of the speed of sound (subsonic), and, at Mach 1.35, u is 35% faster than the speed of sound (supersonic). An F/A-18 Hornet creating a vapor cone at transonic speed just before reaching the speed of sound. The local speed of sound, and hence the Mach number, depends on the temperature of the surrounding gas.
Figure 1. Table 1's data in graphical format. Although given as a function of depth [note 1], the speed of sound in the ocean does not depend solely on depth.Rather, for a given depth, the speed of sound depends on the temperature at that depth, the depth itself, and the salinity at that depth, in that order.
Those physical properties and the speed of sound change with ambient conditions. For example, the speed of sound in gases depends on temperature. In 20 °C (68 °F) air at sea level, the speed of sound is approximately 343 m/s (1,230 km/h; 767 mph) using the formula v [m/s] = 331 + 0.6 T [°C].
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English: Graph of the speed of sound in water vs temperature. Tabulated values (circle markers) from "The Engineering Toolbox" [1] . Smooth continuous line is a 3rd degree polynomial fit (see below) calculated on the tabulated data, accurate within 0.1%.