engineering question #2099

Fester, a 16 year old male from Tacoma asks on May 20, 2004,

Q:

I'm doing a science project and my topic is about the speed of sound. I was wondering if you might have a formula for speed of sound?

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the answer

Barry Shell answered on May 20, 2004, A:

The speed of sound in air varies with temperature and humidity. The hotter it is, the faster the sound moves. At 0 degrees C it goes about 331.5 m/s. At 20 degrees C (or room temperature) it goes at 344 m/s. At 100 degrees C it moves at 386 m/s.

A formula for calculating the speed of sound that ignores humidity is:

v = 331.4 + (0.6 x T)

where v is the speed of sound and T is the temperature in degrees C. The answer comes out in meters per second.

An English website has a speed of sound calculator that takes into account the humidity.

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