Practical Applications of Sound

Sonar stands for sound navigation and ranging. It is used to find the depth of water, map the ocean floor, and locate objects such as sunken ships. A sonar device sends a burst of ultrasound waves downward through the water. The waves strike a barrier, such as a sunken ship, and are reflected back. The device detects the waves and records how long it takes for the original wave to leave and return. A computer uses the speed of sound in water and the time for the wave to make a round trip to calculate the depth of the object.