For example, Methane has more atoms than Argon but the speed of sound through Methane is greater.
So perhaps the number of atoms is what determines the speed of sound, where a greater number of atoms implies a lower speed? For example, a molecule of Ethane has 8 atoms whereas the noble Argon has only one. How can we make sense of these outliers? Note that in both cases the lighter molecule nevertheless contains more atoms. For example, Argon is heavier than Ethane but sound travels more quickly through Argon. But clearly mass is not the only relevant factor. First of all, the speed of sound seems to decrease as the mass of the gas increases. NameĪfter staring at this table a bit a few trends emerge. These speeds are for gases at standard atmospheric pressure (1 atm) and the indicated reference temperatures. To make sure we are grounded in reality, we would specifically like to explain this table of the speed of sound through various gases from the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 2.
The goal of this post is to understand how the molecular composition of a gas determines the speed of sound waves passing through it. Perhaps the most popular demonstration of this phenomenon are the modulated voices of people who have inhaled Helium 1. It is well known that sound waves travel through different gases at different speeds.
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