![speed of sound in feet per second speed of sound in feet per second](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/light-2.png)
Sound, however, is a pressure wave, which must produce a vibration to be heard. Why is light so much faster than sound? Light is an electromagnetic wave, and its photons can move as a wave through air or as particles through a vacuum.Today’s calculation of speed of sound through water at that temperature: 1,482 m/s (3,315 mph).Soon after, in 1826, Swiss physicist Daniel Colladon calculated the speed of sound in 8 degree Centigrade water as 1,435 m/s.Speed of sound through most solids: 5,960 m/s (13,332 mph).The first measurement of the speed of sound through solids didn’t come until the early 1800s, through the experiments in sound frequency of German physicist and musician Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni, often called the father of acoustics.Today’s accepted value for speed of sound through air: 344 m/s (1,130 feet per second).
![speed of sound in feet per second speed of sound in feet per second](https://media.cheggcdn.com/media/47a/47a07feb-3c0e-49b0-a249-a1fd6990bab2/phpUEatUc.png)
Although the equation for the speed of sound (speed = frequency x wavelength) is constant, the speed is affected by the medium through which the sound waves are propagated, as well as other conditions such as temperature and humidity.Their calculation: 350 meters per second. They measured the time between seeing the flash of a gun and hearing its report over a long distance on a still day. But it was Italian physicists Giovani Alfonso Borelli and Vincenzo Viviani who, in the 1660s, first calculated the speed of sound.It was British scientist Sir Isaac Newton who gave the first analytical determination of the speed of sound in his scientific treatise, “Principia,” in 1687.Fascinating Facts About The Speed Of Sound