Sound Waves — Key Discoveries

Key Discoveries

Mersenne's Measurement of Sound Speed (c. 1630s)

1630s

Marin Mersenne conducted pioneering experiments to measure the speed of sound in air, using methods like timing the delay between a cannon flash and its sound. His results, though…

Newton's Theoretical Calculation of Sound Speed (1687)

1687

Isaac Newton, in his 'Principia Mathematica,' provided the first theoretical derivation for the speed of sound in air, treating air as an isothermal medium. While his initial…

Laplace's Adiabatic Correction (1816)

1816

Pierre-Simon Laplace corrected Newton's formula for the speed of sound by recognizing that sound propagation in gases is an adiabatic process, not an isothermal one. This means…