Conceptual confusion about sound reflection delayed its speed measurement for centuries

Evidence

The time it takes for an echo to return from a wall at a known distance could be used to determine the speed of sound. Why didn’t the best scientific minds in the last two thousand years determine the speed of sound using echoes? One problem was the accurate measurement of short intervals of time. But for centuries, it wasn’t clear what actually happened when sound reflected from a surface. Did the surface vibrate in order to send the sound back? Was there a time delay with the sound held at the wall for an interval of time? — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 151

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s theme that conceptual clarity, not just measurement tools, gates scientific progress. — connects to: Thirteenth-century physics intuited sound self-amplification through reflection.; Mersenne first measured sound speed via echoes and speech timing
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 151