What is the speed of sound in lung tissue?

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Multiple Choice

What is the speed of sound in lung tissue?

Explanation:
Lung tissue has many air-filled spaces, which makes it much more compressible than solid soft tissue. The speed of sound in a medium depends on how stiff it is (its bulk modulus) and how dense it is; when air pockets dominate, the overall medium is less stiff and more compressible, so sound travels more slowly. In the lungs, this combination puts the speed of sound at roughly 500 m/s—much slower than solid soft tissues, which are around 1540 m/s. While pure air is about 343 m/s, the lung is a mix of air and tissue, yielding an intermediate value near 500 m/s.

Lung tissue has many air-filled spaces, which makes it much more compressible than solid soft tissue. The speed of sound in a medium depends on how stiff it is (its bulk modulus) and how dense it is; when air pockets dominate, the overall medium is less stiff and more compressible, so sound travels more slowly. In the lungs, this combination puts the speed of sound at roughly 500 m/s—much slower than solid soft tissues, which are around 1540 m/s. While pure air is about 343 m/s, the lung is a mix of air and tissue, yielding an intermediate value near 500 m/s.

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