What are some basic properties of a sound wave?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Sound is a longitudinal wave.

    Remember that longitudinal waves are made up of areas where the wave is compressed together, and other areas where it is expanded.
    This would agree with the way that humans themselves make sounds. We force air, sometimes harder, sometimes softer, through our vocal cords.
    In the process the air is either squished or allowed to move freely… making the air into a longitudinal wave!

We will look in detail at three fundamental characteristics of sound: speed, frequency, and loudness.
Speed

The speed of sound in air actually depends on the temperature of the air.

    As a standard, we will say that the speed of sound is 340m/s at 15°C. If you are not told anything different in a question, use this value.
    If you did need to calculate the speed of sound at a different temperature, you could use this formula as a rough estimate (you are not required to memorize this formula)…

v = 331.5m/s + 0.6T

v = velocity of sound (m/s)
T = temperature (°C)