Question

What is the effect of the medium on the speed of the sound? In which medium sound travels more faster: air, solid, or liquid? Justify your answer?

Answer 1

Sound travels fastest through solids. This is because molecules in a solid medium are much closer together than those in a liquid or gas, allowing sound waves to travel more quickly through it. In fact, sound waves travel over 17 times faster through steel than through air.

Answer 2

The phase of matter has a large impact upon the elastic properties of a medium. In general, the bond strength between particles is strongest in solid materials and is weakest in the gaseous states As a result, sound waves travel faster in solids than in liquids, and faster in liquids than in gasses.

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