Abstract
SOME recent measurements1 of the velocity of sound over an extended range of pressures have indicated that, while the velocity is independent of pressure down to pressures in the neighbourhood of 15 cm. mercury, a significant increase in velocity appears as the pressure is further decreased. At 5 cm. mercury the increase amounts to several metres per sec. In each case the measurements were made in metal tubes with audio-frequency sound. No acceptable physical explanation of this effect has been found. Because of the meteorological significance of these observations and their implication in supersonic aerodynamics, we have carried out a new determination of the velocity of sound in air at pressures down to 5 mm. mercury.
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CARO, D., MARTIN, L. Velocity of Sound in Air at Low Pressures. Nature 172, 363–364 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/172363a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/172363a0
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