Speed of Sound in Air
Essay Preview: Speed of Sound in Air
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Investigation 1: Speed of Sound in Air
Problem
What is the speed of sound in air? How does the temperature affect the speed of sound?
Title
Speed of sound in air experiment
Purpose
Determine and investigate the speed of sound in air and how does the temperature affect the speed of sound
Hypothesis
The speed of sound can be determine by the experiment, which use equation velocity equal distance divide by time. The temperature will affect the speed of sound depend on the degree.
Background information
When you watch a fire works display you can see that sound travels much more slowly than light. The flash of each explosion is seen before the sound is heard. Also the time difference increases as the fireworks climb higher. In this activity you will measure how fast sound travels through air.
Apparatus Materials
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Thermometer
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Stopwatch
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Tap measure
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Sound source (example 2 wooden blocks)
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Ear protection against noise
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Heavy gloves
Method
Find a place can stand at least 50m away from a wall
Measure the distance that between that wall and an observer.
Use the sound source to create a sound
Measure the time interval between producing the sound and hearing the echo
Measure the temperature of the air, so you can find the speed of sound by the equation v = 331 m/s + 0.59 m/s-1 Ѓ0†2C x T.
Repeat the experiment several times with a different distance and temperature to define the equation.
Use equation v=d/t to determine the speed of sound with no temperature affect. Compare to the equation v = 331 m/s + 0.59 m/s-1 Ѓ0†2C x T and investigate the different between them.
Observation