Speed of Sound Calculator

Calculator for determining the time it takes for sound to travel a distance and for the distance traveled. Helpful, e.g. during a thunderstorm, where lightning can be seen first and then thunder can be heard a few seconds later. The speed of sound at 20°C and high humidity is approx. 343 m/s (= 1235 km/h), at cooler temperatures and low humidity it is a little bit lower. Enter the duration or the distance, the other value will be calculated. Or calculate the speed of sound by deleting the value there and entering duration and distance.

Sound waves need a medium to propagate. Sound is created by wave-like density fluctuations in a medium, which expand over time starting from a point. Therefore, there is no sound in a vacuum because there is no medium that could transport density fluctuations. The speed of sound always refers to air unless another medium is specified. Many liquids, including water, have sound speeds of around 1400 to 1500 meters per second, which is more than four times higher than in air. The theoretical maximum speed for sound would be 36100 meters per second, but no corresponding material has yet been discovered. Graphene, which is made of carbon, reaches 20000 m/s. The speed of sound is very low compared to the speed of light, which is just under 300 million meters per second. So when we perceive a loud event at a large distance, we see the event before we hear it. This can be fractions of a second or even several seconds.

Physics commonly uses SI units. Here is a calculator to convert lengths, temperature, pressure, speed and other units.