Derivative of displacement in deriving expression for intensity of sound waves

acousticsdifferentiationhomework-and-exerciseswaves

I am currently working on deriving the expression for intensity of a sound wave: https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-1/pages/17-3-sound-intensity

The previously mentioned book states: "The velocity of the medium is the time rate of change in the displacement: $$v(x,t)=\frac{\partial}{\partial y}s(x,t)=s_{max}\omega\sin(kx-\omega t+\phi)$$

I am confused why we differentiate with respect to $y$ rather than $t$. Given the final result, $x$ was treated as a constant and the result makes sense if we differentiate with respect to $t$ (although missing a negative sign?). What am I missing?

Best Answer

It is a typo and the negative sign disappears because it is a cosine function, $s(x,t)=s_{\rm max}\cos(kx∓ωt+ϕ)$, which is being differentiated.

$y$ is the displacement of the centre of mass of a parcel of the medium from its equilibrium position at a fixed position $x$ from the origin.
So this displacement relates to the movement of the medium not the movement of the wave profile (a "photograph" of the wave at one instant of time).