![]() ![]() At different depths, both salinity and temperature vary. ![]() The temperature of the sea water decreases when we go deeper into the ocean. There are also some other factors which affects the sound’s speed, but their effects are minor compared to these three variables. Thus, we can have different sound’s speed for different water sources. These are the oceanographic variables which changes from time to time. ![]() Temperature, salinity and pressure also affects the sound’s speed. Sound’s speed varies in seawater also due to its changing seasons, salinity and depth. The sound’s speed in seawater will be 1500.235 m/s (at 20 to 250 degree Celsius – room temperature). This is due to its void of air bubbles and its related sediments. Sound waves propagates in a different speed in seawater. If there was no such thing called air-water interface, one can hear your voice clearly in underwater than in the air. This interface reflects most of your sound which makes your voice inaudible to others. The coupling of sound from air to water is so poor due to the air-water interface. If someone wants to hear your voice underwater, you need to couple your vocal air with the water that means the sound waves have to travel from the air in your mouth through the surrounding water. A solid with less density will tend to have a lower speed compared to a liquid with high density. This is because ice contains water molecules which are stiffer in nature than the water. The sound’s speed in water is slower compared to its speed in ice. Materials which are stiffer in nature will propagate sound in a high speed while the ones which are less stiff will probably be slower. Sound’s speed in air is about 343 m/s while in water it is about 1,450 to 1,498 m/s (at 20 to 250oC – room temperature) i.e., four times as high as air. Due to its high density, it usually takes so much of energy to produce a sound wave in water. That is why it has been used in submarines to image their environment in a precise manner with the help of sonars. The water’s sound propagating speed will be four times as high as air. Since it is incompressible, it can propagate sound waves at a faster speed than the air. But the compressibility matters the most. One may think that the sound waves will propagate slower in water due to its high density. The density of water is higher compared to air. If a substance is having more density and its compressibility factor is also high, then the substance will tend to struggle in transmitting the sound waves i.e., the sound waves will travel slower. The density and the compressibility both are inversely proportional to the sound’s speed. These two factors mainly contribute in determining the sound’s speed. The measurement of how much amount of material exists in a given volume is termed as density. Compressibility is a factor which accounts how much a substance can be compacted or compressed with the application of ![]() The medium’s density (ρ) and its compressibility (K) are two important factors which determines the sound’s speed. The sound’s speed varies greatly with the medium. The medium in which they are travelling often determines their speed. Sound waves often termed as vibrations need a medium in order to travel that clearly explains that sound doesn’t propagate in vacuum. Sound is a longitudinal wave which propagates through the bonds and the atoms in a material. ![]()
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