Ultrasonic Absorption in Liquids

Abstract

A reverberation method has been used to measure the absorption of sound at frequencies down to 140 kc in a number of liquids of widely different properties. For glycerol the experimental result agrees well with that predicted by classical theory. For benzene and water good agreement is found with the values calculated using the modified theory employing the values of second viscosity determined by Liebermann. The absorption in carbon disulfide agrees well with Ouang's result. For these four liquids the absorption is found to be proportional to the square of the frequency, but results indicate that toluene has a relaxation frequency of the order of 105 sec−1. The reverberation method is especially useful at the lower ultrasonic frequencies, where loner wave-lengths and lower absorption render methods used at higher frequencies less reliable or unusable.