Waves/Sound Waves

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[edit] Sound Waves

Sound is a longitudinal compression-expansion wave through matter. The wave speed is

c = (γRT_abs)^{1 / 2} (2.11)

where γ and R are constants and T_abs is the absolute temperature. The absolute temperature is measured in Kelvins and is numerically given by

(2.12)

where T_C is the temperature in Celsius degrees. The angular frequency of sound waves is thus given by

ω = ck = (γRT_abs)^{1 / 2}k. (2.13)

The speed of sound in air at normal temperatures is about 340 m s ^{- 1}.

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