Acoustic experiments relating to the coefficients of viscosity of various liquids

Abstract

The concept of second viscosity was revived to explain the high attenuation, much greater than their first viscosity would justify, of ultrasonics in certain organic liquids. Certainly these liquids are more sensitive to second-order effects such as the production of streaming from a sound source immersed therein, which—under certain circumstances—may be related to the observed ultrasonic absorption. On the other hand, the heat generated during the passage of the ultrasonics is of the same order as that produced in a liquid of the same first viscosity. Experiments in which compressional waves are propagated through the liquid contained in a capillary tube show that the first viscosity is adequate to predict the attenuation, and the same coefficient explains the propagation of shear waves into the liquid.