Not much of a medium to conduct sound, is it?
A few hydrogen atoms per cubic meter?? Hard to imagine any sort of "ripple" or "wave" effect going on in that sparseness.
” Hard to imagine any sort of “ripple” or “wave” effect going on in that sparseness. “
Let your mind be free of preconceptions!
“Disturbances are transmitted through a gas as a result of collisions between the randomly moving molecules in the gas. The transmission of a small disturbance through a gas is an isentropic process.
The conditions in the gas are the same before and after the disturbance passes through. Because the speed of transmission depends on molecular collisions, the speed of sound depends on the state of the gas.
The speed of sound is a constant within a given gas and the value of the constant depends on the type of gas (air, pure oxygen, carbon dioxide, etc.) and the temperature of the gas.
An analysis based on conservation of mass and momentum shows that the speed of sound (a) is equal to the square root of the ratio of specific heats (g) times the gas constant (R) times the temperature (T).
a = sqrt [g * R * T]
Notice that the temperature must be specified on an absolute scale (Kelvin or Rankine). The dependence on the type of gas is included in the gas constant R. which equals the universal gas constant divided by the molecular weight of the gas, and the ratio of specific heats.
The speed of sound in air depends on the type of gas and the temperature of the gas. On Earth, the atmosphere is composed of mostly diatomic nitrogen and oxygen, and the temperature depends on the altitude in a rather complex way. Scientists and engineers have created a mathematical model of the atmosphere to help them account for the changing effects of temperature with altitude.
Mars also has an atmosphere composed of mostly carbon dioxide. There is a similar mathematical model of the Martian atmosphere. We have created an atmospheric calculator to let you study the variation of sound speed with planet and altitude.
Here’s another Java program to calculate speed of sound and Mach number for different planets, altitudes, and speed. You can use this calculator to determine the Mach number of a rocket at a given speed and altitude on Earth or Mars.
Due to IT security concerns, many users are currently experiencing problems running NASA Glenn educational applets. There are security settings that you can adjust that may correct this problem. ...”