Stokes's Law of Sound Attenuation
Description
Stokes’s law of sound attenuation is a formula for the attenuation of sound in a Newtonian fluid, such as water or air, due to the fluid’s viscosity. It states that the amplitude of a plane wave decreases exponentially with distance traveled, at a rate α given by the formula shown here.
The law and its derivation were published in 1845 by physicist G. G. Stokes, who also developed the well-known Stokes’s law for the friction force in fluid motion.
Related formulasVariables
| α | attenuation rate (1/m) |
| η | dynamic viscosity coefficient (pascal*s) |
| ω | sound's angular frequency (1/s) |
| ρ | fluid density (kg/m3) |
| V | speed of sound in the medium (m/s) |