Discussion

Due to the extremely large errors in the results of this experiment, it is impossible to draw
any meaningful conclusions. The consistently low values obtained indicate a systematic error
in data acquisition. A comparison of the obtained speed of sound in helium of 601 m/s to a
known value of ~965 m/s also indicates that the collection of data, at least for helium, was
indeed flawed..

A primary cause of this error may have been recording of displacements at inappropriate
times; nodes and antinodes may be indicated by the movement of the superimposed
oscilloscope images moving in and out of phases, rather than at minimums and maximums.
The proposal to modify the experiment to use superimposed images rather than Lissajous
figures was suggested by the teaching assistant at the time of the experiment, and perhaps
should have been avoided.

Another source of error was an instability of the oscilloscope reading. On a five volt scale,
the amplitude of the signal would fluctuate by as much as 0.5 volts, making determinations of
maximums and minimums difficult. The cause of this fluctuation could not be determined,
even with the help of the teaching assistant. When the calibration of the oscilloscope was
checked, an internal 1 kHz signal produced a reading of 952.4 Hz, a difference of 4.8%.

The treatment of the gases as van der Waals gases instead of ideal gases leads to only minor
changes, the largest being that for carbon dioxide, with a difference of only 0.6%. This is to
be expected from the conditions used, as the gases were at reasonably high temperatures and
low pressures.

The technique of determining experimental values would not be very useful in determining
whether a molecule is linear or non-linear, as non-linear molecules have only additional R
contribution to their heat capacities. As a molecule must be polyatomic to be non-linear, the
addition of R to its already relatively high heat capacity would be insignificant. As an
example, if carbon dioxide was linear, it would lose 1 degree of freedom. As a result it would
have a heat capacity ratio of 1.222 [unitless] instead of 1.200 [unitless], a difference of only
1.8%.

The average speed of molecules in a gas is equal to the average velocity of the molecules in
any particular direction. The reason for this is that speed is simply the magnitude of velocity
for each molecule. By assigning a direction to the speed, it becomes a velocity, and is
therefore average speed in a given direction is equal to average velocity in the same direction.

As sound energy is transmitted through the motion of molecules, it follows that the rate that
sound travels through a gas will be similar to the speed of the molecules themselves.
Furthermore, as the speed of molecules in a substance is not a function of pressure, but
temperature, it is apparent that the speed of sound in a gas is independent of the pressure.