Air temperature in the Sahara Desert can reach $56.0^{\circ }\text{C}$ (about $134^{\circ }\text{F}$ ). What is the speed of sound in air at that temperature?

Video Transcript

This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. The temperature in the Sahara desert is 56.0 degrees Celsius and we are asked what is the speed of sound at that temperature? So we add 273.15 to convert this temperature into 329.15 Kelvin and then the speed of sound then is 331 meters per second times the square root of the absolute temperature divided by 273 Kelvin. So that's 331 meters per second times square root 329.15 Kelvin divided by 273 Kelvin and we get 363 meters per second is the speed of sound in the Sahara desert at 56.0 degrees Celsius.