Oscillations and Waves > Strain and stress. Wave's speed > Problem 3.6.24

Statement

The compressibility of mercury, water, and air are , , and atm, and their densities are , , and kg/m, respectively.
Determine the speed of sound in these media.

Solution

The speed of sound is , where and are the bulk modulus and the density of the medium, respectively. The bulk modulus is the reciprocal of the compressibility of the medium. Using atm Pa, we obtain the bulk moduli of mercury, water, and air as , , and Pa, respectively. Thus, the speeds of sound in these media are roughly , , and m/s, respectively.

Answer

, , and m/s, respectively.