Question

State the factors on which the velocity of sound depends.

Answer 1

Speed of Sound:

1. The speed of sound is defined as the distance through which a sound wave’s point, such as a compression or a rarefaction, travels per unit of time.
2. The speed of sound remains the same for all frequencies in a given medium under the same physical conditions.
3. The mathematical expression for the speed of sound can be given by: $v=\lambda f$ where ‘v’ is the velocity of sound, $\lambda$ is the wavelength and ‘f’ is the frequency of the wave.

Factors that affect the speed of sound:

1. Characteristics of the material medium that the wave travels through.
2. Density
3. Temperature
4. Humidity

All the above factors mentioned above are directly proportional to the speed of sound, i.e. increasing the values of the factors mentioned above increases the speed of sound.

Therefore, these are the factors on which the velocity of sound depends.