Wavelength and Frequency

Name: Wavelength and Frequency
Author: Jürgen Kummer

Conversion of wavelength and frequency with the speed of sound in air and water. How wavelength and frequency are converted into each other depends on the speed of sound in the according medium. Here, you can either select the speed of sound of air and water at normal conditions and then calculate wavelength or frequency from each other value. Of you can calculate the speed of sound from wavelength and frequency.

The formula used for the calculation is wavelength = speed of sound / frequency, λ = c / f.

Example: the standard pitch a with 440 hertz has a wavelength in air of 78 centimeters and in water of 3.373 meters.

The speed of sound is normally given in meters per second. It can also be given in kilometers per hour and in miles per hour, the last one being quite common in the Anglo-American language area. The unit of frequency, hertz, means 1 per second. The wavelength of sounds audible to humans is in the range of a few centimeters to a few meters, approximately from 20 to 20000 Hertz, with large individual differences.

Sound waves spread spherically in a medium such as air. Areas of higher pressure and areas of lower pressure alternate. The area of highest pressure is called the wave crest, and the area of lowest pressure is called the wave trough. The wavelength indicates the distance between two wave crests and also between two wave troughs. This is the simplified representation for sinusoidal tones. Most tones are more complicated and often several tones occur at the same time. But even a complicated composition of tones and overtones of several frequencies can be broken down into individual waves. Mathematically, this is possible using Fourier analysis, but in practice the ear and the brain do it to a certain extent.

Medium:
Speed of sound:
Frequency:		hertz
Wavelength: