The speed of sound in any

chemical element A chemical element is a species of atoms that have a given number of protons in their nuclei, including the pure substance consisting only of that species. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements cannot be broken down into simpler sub ...

in the fluid phase has one temperature-dependent value. In the

solid phase In the physical sciences, a phase is a region of space (a thermodynamic system), throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, index of refraction, magnetizati ...

, different types of sound wave may be propagated, each with its own speed: among these types of wave are

longitudinal Longitudinal is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Longitude ** Line of longitude, also called a meridian * Longitudinal engine, an internal combustion engine in which the crankshaft is oriented along the long axis of the vehicl ...

(as in fluids), transversal, and (along a surface or plate)

extensional In any of several fields of study that treat the use of signs — for example, in linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, obj ...

Speed of sound, solid phase

Speed of sound, fluid phases

Notes

* Ref. CRC: Values are "at room temperature" unless noted, and "for normal atmospheric pressure" ("at 1 atm" for gases). * Ref. WEL: Values refer to "where possible". Midpoint values are substituted if ranges were given in their original reference. Not specified further, it is assumed from the values that all (except fluids) are for the speed of sound in a thin rod.

References

{{reflist

Sources

WEL

As quoted at http://www.webelements.com/ from this source: * G.V. Samsonov (Ed.) in ''Handbook of the physicochemical properties of the elements'', IFI-Plenum, New York, USA, 1968.

CRC

As quoted from various sources in an online version of: * David R. Lide (ed), ''CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 84th Edition''. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida, 2003; Section 14, Geophysics, Astronomy, and Acoustics; Speed of Sound in Various Media

CR2

As quoted from this source in an online version of: David R. Lide (ed), ''CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 84th Edition''. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida, 2003; Section 6, Fluid Properties; Thermal Properties of Mercury * Vukalovich, M. P., et al., ''Thermophysical Properties of Mercury'', Moscow Standard Press, 1971.

APIH

Dwight E. Gray (ed), ''American Institute of Physics Handbook''. McGraw-Hill. Boca Raton, Florida, New York, 1957.

Other

* 88RAB: V.A. Rabinovich, et al. ''Thermophysical Properties of Neon, Argon, Krypton and Xenon''. Selover (Eng. ed.) Hemisphere, Washington DC, 1988. * Zuckerwar: A. J. Zuckerwar, ''Handbook of the Speed of Sound in Real Gases''. Academic Press, 2002. Properties of chemical elements Chemical element data pages Sound