Talk:Speed of sound
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Terminology
The proper term is "speed of sound", not "velocity of sound." Velocity refers to a vector, but sound is characterized by a scalar: the speed of sound waves in a material, independent of direction. In some materials, sound travels faster in some directions than others, but even in such circumstances it is not characterized (AFAIK) by a vector. -- CYD
- This may be correct (as far as velcoity is a vector and speed is a scalar), but is a bit of hair splitting. In Morse's "Theoretical" Acoustics, the index entries for "sound speed" and "sound velocity" are identical. A Scirus search reveals approximately the same number of "sound speed" annd "sound velocity" hits. "Sound velocity" abounds in geophysical literature. So both in technical and other literature velocity is not strictly used for the vectorial quantity. --AMR 22:16, 2004 Nov 5 (UTC)
Linear with temperature?
Does anyone have a reference for the claim that speed of sound varies linearly with temperature in air? As far as I know, this is not correct. My "standard atmosphere" table shows it varying strictly with the square root. I believe the linear expression should be removed from the page. -- User:wtph
- Not my field, but what you say sounds right. I know for a fact that the speed of sound is higher when the temperature is low - that's why my alarm clock always goes off much earlier on cold winter mornings (especially, for some reason, on Mondays). Tannin 04:30 5 Jun 2003 (UTC)
- LOL. But seriously, the speed does vary with √T, and √T is approximately a straight line for the 20°C or so that most people are interested in. I've removed the confused sentence on the origin of the linearity. The rest of the article could still use some editing. -- Tim Starling 04:43 5 Jun 2003 (UTC)
Table of speeds in common materials
It would be great if we had a (fairly) brief table of the speed of sound in various common materials (air at stp, air at everest height, surface water, rock, steel, wood). I'd imagine this is lying around in some engineer's desktop reference somewhere? -- Finlay McWalter 02:22, 27 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Speed of sound = speed of movement of 'pressure'?
mighte be stupid, but i was wondering whether the speed of sound actually is the maximum speed that "pressure" can travel through matter. if that is true, we should include it in this article...
Pressure is considered a state variable, so talking about the "speed of movement of pressure" doesn't mean a whole lot. Pressure doesn't "move" from one point to another.
and humidity
(William M. Connolley 20:48, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)) The article says:
- The humidity has very little effect on the speed of sound, while the static sound pressure (air pressure) has none. Sound travels slower with an increased altitude (elevation if you are on solid earth), primarily as a result of temperature and humidity changes.
So does humidity matter, or not?
The contribution from humidity is small compared to the contribution from temperature.
Relativistic effetcs
When are relativistic effects important??? Should that part be removed?
