The Speed of Sound

Pitch and Frequency

Intensity and the Decibel Scale
The Speed of Sound

The Human Ear

A sound wave is a pressure disturbance that travels through a medium by
means of particle-to-particle interaction. As one particle becomes
disturbed, it exerts a force on the next adjacent particle, thus disturbing
that particle from rest and transporting the energy through the medium.
Like any wave, the speed of a sound wave refers to how fast the
disturbance is passed from particle to particle. While frequencyrefers to
the number of vibrations that an individual particle makes per unit of
time, speed refers to the distance that the disturbance travels per unit of
time. Always be cautious to distinguish between the two often-confused
quantities of speed (how fast...) and frequency (how often...).
Since the speed of a wave is defined as the distance that a point on a
wave (such as a compression or a rarefaction) travels per unit of time, it is
often expressed in units of meters/second (abbreviated m/s). In equation
form, this is
• speed = distance/timeThe faster a sound
wave travels, the more distance it will cover in
the same period of time. If a sound wave were
observed to travel a distance of 700 meters in
2 seconds, then the speed of the wave would
be 350 m/s. A slower wave would cover less
distance - perhaps 660 meters - in the same
time period of 2 seconds and thus have a
speed of 330 m/s. Faster waves cover more
distance in the same period of time.