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Measuring the Speed of Sound - Experiment

Echoes can be used to measure the speed of sound.

Speed of sound - echo

Speed of sound - echo

  • Two people stand a measured distance from a tall vertical wall. This distance should ideally be about 100m.
  • The first person bangs two wooden blocks together to make a sharp sound and repeats this every time the echo is heard.
Speed of sound - echo

Speed of sound - echo

  • Starting counting from zero, the second person uses a stopwatch (timer) to measure the time taken for a number of claps – 50 or 100.
  • In the time between two successive claps, the sound travels to the wall and back.
  • The speed of sound can be calculated from the following relationship:
    • speed of sound = distance to wall × 2 × number of claps (N) ÷ time taken for N claps.
Jump to other topics
1

Energy

2

Electricity

3

Particle Model of Matter

4

Atoms & Radiation

5

Forces

5.1

Basics of Motion

5.2

Forces

5.3

Effects of Forces

5.4

Pressure

6

Waves

6.1

Wave Basics

6.2

Waves at a Boundary

6.3

Sound Waves

6.4

Electromagnetic Waves

6.5

Lenses

6.6

Heat & Radiation

7

Magnetism

8

Astrophysics

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