How can you measure the speed of sound?

Answer 1

There are two relatively simple methods for measuring the speed of sound, both of which involve timing echoes:

• You need a stopwatch, two lumps of wood and a long tape measure. Stand a measured distance from a large wall and bang two lumps of wood together. As soon as you hear the echo, hit the wood again. Practice getting into a rhythm where the echo arrives at the exact moment you make the next noise. When you achieve this, get a friend to measure the time between 11 "bangs" (that is, the length of ten gaps between bangs). Multiply the distance between you and the wall by 20 (the sound went there and back 20 times in the timed interval), then divide that answer by the time it took to make the 11 bangs.

• The second method requires a microphone, a closed tube and an oscilloscope, but effectively does the same thing - the distance between peaks on the oscilloscope shows the time it takes for a sound to travel down the tube, echo off the closed end and return.

Both methods can be found in more detail at http://www.instructables.com -

• http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-measure-the-speed-of-sound-with-two-lumps-o/

• http://www.instructables.com/id/Determine-the-Speed-of-Sound/

Answer 2

Shoot a canon far away. Look at the flash the cannon makes and start a stop watch when you see the flash. Stop the stop watch, when you hear the bang. The time of the speed of sound is the distance from the canon divided by the time you measured.

Speed v = distance d / time t.

Answer 3

There is no need to "work out" the speed of sound; that was established very long ago. In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound is 343 meters per second (1,125 ft/s). This equates to 1,236 kilometers per hour (768 mph), or about one kilometre in three seconds and about one mile in five seconds.

Answer 4

If you stand a known distance from a wall e.g 100m, and make a short sharp sound e.g a really loud finger snap you can hear an echo. With practice you can then time your snaps in time with the echo and the next and so on. Simply timing how long it look for say 30 snaps with a stopwatch, you can use the equation speed=distance/time to get the speed.

Answer 5

One way to measure the speed of sound in air is to measure the time taken by a sound to echo back from a distant object. The reflecting surface, which should be smooth and at right angles to you, should be at a measured distance (about 50 metres) away so that the interval between the sound and its echo is perceptible. However, to avoid errors due to your response times you should use electronic equipment to measure the time interval.

Then, if the distance to the reflecting surface is d metres and the ech arrives t seconds after the sound is made, v = 2s/t metres/second.

Answer 6

By doing a poo in the woods and cleaning your bum with chewing gum.

Answer 7

The speed of sound in air is 343 m/s at 20 degrees .5

Answer 8

In general, the speed of sound c is given by

c = \sqrt{\frac{C}{\rho}}

where

C is a coefficient of stiffness

ρ is the density

Answer 9

Meter divided by seconds. m/s