[Physics] Is speed of sound really constant

acousticsdispersionfrequencywavelengthwaves

Does not speed of sound actually depend on the frequency and/or amplitude of the waves? If so, why it is constant?

Best Answer

The speed of sound is constant in the same sense that the mass of an object is constant.

In the typical audible range, at frequencies below, like, $100\:\mathrm{kHz}$ and sound pressures much less than atmospheric pressure, the behaviour of air is very well described by a simple linear wave equation that's purely second order in both space and time. As a result, the dispersion is linear ($|k| \propto \omega$), and phase or, equivalently, group velocity is constant.

Much the same in mechanics: whilst nothing moves anywhere near the speed of sound, momentum and speed are related linearly as described by Newton's laws of motion; we call the ratio mass and it's constant.

Not really though: special relativity tell us that when $v$ approaches the speed of light, you can push kinetic energy and thus momentum ever higher by accelerating an object, but it won't become faster to the same degree. One way to look at this is saying the mass increases.

Similarly, when you go to high frequencies, the wavelength shrinks to a range comparable to the material's internal structure. Therefore, you can't really use a differential equation anymore to describe the spatial component; the dispersion becomes more complicated and the speed of sound isn't constant anymore. Or, if the sound pressure is in a similar range as the air pressure, the behaviour becomes nonlinear alltogether, and you get shock-wave phenomena.