This 1999 textbook by Serway and Faughn is one of seven textbooks reviewed in this issue of The Physics Teacher.

The propagation constant for sound waves propagated through gases confined to tubes is shown to be a function of the specific heat of the gas, a “Reynolds” number, a “Knudsen” number, and the momentum and energy accommodation coefficients of the surface. A numerical solution for the propagation constant agrees with room temperature velocity and absorption measurements in Ar and N2 assuming a momentum accommodation coefficient of 1 and an energy accommodation coefficient of 0.9. No effort was made to clean the tube-wall surface, and no difference could be detected in a stainless steel and a brass tube. The method offers considerable promise for measuring energy accommodation coefficients.

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