Sound commentary
DOI: 10.1063/1.4796644
Everbach replies: Leonard Finegold’s points are sound on several counts. The “sounding machine” used by the ancient Greeks and for thousands of years thereafter consisted of a lead weight that was thrown over-board, into the sound, tied to a knotted rope. The “propagation time” was the time for the weight to fall at its terminal velocity to the sea bottom; that time was proportional to the length of rope paid out—that is, distance from the source. Thanks for sounding me out on this question, Len!
More about the Authors
E. Carr Everbach. (ceverba1@swarthmore.edu) Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, US .
