Speed of Sound Calculator

About this calculator

This calculator uses v = 331.3 × √(1 + T/273.15) m/s, the standard approximation for how fast sound travels through dry air at temperature T (°C). It comes from the adiabatic relationship v = √(γRT/M), where γ is the ratio of specific heats for air and M its molar mass — since neither humidity nor pressure changes the result much at normal conditions, temperature alone is enough to get a good estimate.

Acousticians and audio engineers use it to time delay speakers and align microphone arrays, aviation and artillery calculations rely on it for sound-ranging (like the “flash-to-bang” thunder count), and physics students use it to check how pitch and echo timing shift between a cold morning and a hot afternoon.