14.1 Speed of Sound, Frequency, and Wavelength

• Sound is a wave. More specifically, sound is defined to be a disturbance of matter that is transmitted from its source outward.
• As the string oscillates back and forth, part of the string’s energy goes into compressing and expanding the surrounding air. This creates slightly higher and lower pressures.
• The higher pressure... regions are compressions, and the low pressure regions are rarefactions.
• The speed of sound varies greatly depending upon the medium it is traveling through. The speed of sound in a medium is determined by a combination of the medium’s rigidity (or compressibility in gases) and its density.
• The more rigid (or less compressible) the medium, the faster the speed of sound.