Abstract
THE following simple way of arriving at the velocity of sound in air occurred to me lately:—Standing on a straight Staircase between two blank walls (brick, and papered), which I find to be 321/2 inches apart, I clap my hands. The effect from each clap is a brief musical sound, metallic in character, and of quite appreciable pitch. It arises, doubtless, from the disturbance travelling to and fro between the walls. The pitch I find to be, as nearly as possible, G sharp (in the fourth space). Now, the number of complete vibrations per second, corresponding to this note, seems to be about 205 (see Deschanel's “Natural Philosophy”, p. 820). This implies that the disturbance, when I clapped my hands, made 410 excursions across the space per second. Consequently, 410 x 321/2 = 13,325 inches = 1,100 feet. This is exactly the number Deschanel gives as the velocity of sound in air at 50° (approximately our mean annual temperature).
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M. Measuring the Velocity of Sound in Air. Nature 19, 529 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019529a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019529a0
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