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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.
In acoustics, the sound speed gradient is the rate of change of the speed of sound with distance, for example with depth in the ocean, [1] or height in the Earth's atmosphere. A sound speed gradient leads to refraction of sound wavefronts in the direction of lower sound speed, causing the sound rays to follow a curved path.
The speed of sound depends on the medium the waves pass through, and is a fundamental property of the material. The first significant effort towards measurement of the speed of sound was made by Isaac Newton. He believed the speed of sound in a particular substance was equal to the square root of the pressure acting on it divided by its density:
c is the speed of sound in the medium, which in air varies with the square root of the thermodynamic temperature. By definition, at Mach 1, the local flow velocity u is equal to the speed of sound. 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).
The speed of sound (i.e., the longitudinal motion of wavefronts) is related to frequency and wavelength of a wave by =.. This is different from the particle velocity , which refers to the motion of molecules in the medium due to the sound, and relates to the plane wave pressure to the fluid density and sound speed by =.
The sound energy density level gives the ratio of a sound incidence as a sound energy value in comparison to the reference level of 1 pPa (= 10 −12 pascals). [2] It is a logarithmic measure of the ratio of two sound energy densities. The unit of the sound energy density level is the decibel (dB), a non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI ...
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. [1]
In acoustics, Stokes's law of sound attenuation is a formula for the attenuation of sound in a Newtonian fluid, such as water or air, due to the fluid's viscosity.It states that the amplitude of a plane wave decreases exponentially with distance traveled, at a rate α given by = where η is the dynamic viscosity coefficient of the fluid, ω is the sound's angular frequency, ρ is the fluid ...