Mediums Of Sound

Classical Mechanics Level 3

In which of these mediums does sound tend to travel fastest?

Solid Gas Liquid

11 solutions

Sravanth C.
May 13, 2015

Lets start with an irrelevant topic. We know that sound requires a medium to travel, that is for the sound to travel there must be some particles in the medium.

Sound travels through the medium as vibrations, that is the particles of the medium oscillate to and fro, once a particle gets disturbed from its equilibrium position, it touches the next particle and disturbs it, and then the first particle comes back to its original position, i.e, equilibrium position, this process continues until the energy is lost completely.

We also know that the particles are very closely packed in solids than liquids or gases. That means the energy required to move a nearby particle is less in solids than liquids or gases, because the distance between the particles is comparatively large in liquids and gases.

Which means that the particles disturb each other faster in solids. $\huge \ddot \smile$

Isn't that (speed and distance the sound travels) dependent on the density of the solid and the internal structure of the solid? What I try to say is that in some solids the sound might not travel very fast or far but in water it might travel for miles.

Marius Munteanu - 6 years ago

i believe sound can travel farther in liquids or in air than solid. but as it can travel faster, i don't think so. The reason why you cannot actually hear a fart passing through a 6inch wall is because 6inch wall have few thousands of molecules that losses sound waves as it scatters in all directions while in an open air, well, with just few milliseconds to second/s delay. :'D

Gerard Pacete - 5 years, 6 months ago

When I was 14 I didn't even know what sounds were (in terms of physics). How do you people know this XD

Luis Dato - 6 years ago

Actually it was taught to us in $9^{th}$ grade. . .

Sravanth C. - 6 years ago

We learned it in 4th grade through this question: Does a tree falling in the middle of the forrest, where no ears are around, make a sound?

Gabriel Miller - 6 years ago

I learned it by myself when I was 12 :3

Rovi Medina III - 5 years, 7 months ago

Nicely explained!

raghav bhat - 6 years, 1 month ago

Thank you $\ddot \smile$

Sravanth C. - 6 years, 1 month ago

It's actually quite the opposite. Think of it as in a swimming pool, it requires so much more energy to push water around than it does to push air around. As is the same with Sound. Yes, there is less energy required to move from one particle to the next, but as you said they are much more closely packed together. Physics wise, the further you are from the sound source, the quiter it is, or the more particles it has to vibrate to get to your ear. In a solid, you have so many more particles to vibrate. This is the reason we were able to create sound proof walls

Lennin McMahon - 5 years, 7 months ago

Liquids are well known to be virtually incompressible because the particles are closely packed. As the particles are free to move around the average distance between particles may well be larger than a solid but it surely depends on the solid. Wood, paper, cardboard, ceramics etc are likely to have very different transmission properties. Solid metals transmit sound very well (tapping morse code on radiators can allow communication through out a building) but whales communicate over long distances in the oceans (oceans are liquid btw). I think the question needs adjustment.

Richard Murphy - 5 years, 7 months ago

I remember a fact I read in Physics class at Fairfield College Prep back when I was a junior. It said that sound travels at 13,000 feet/sec in steel. From this I drew my conclusion and answer.

Gene Ervin - 5 years, 6 months ago

I thought the answer was liquid! That's what I learnt in grade 7/8, because sound travels in waves, and water/liquid is waves. If you talk underwater, you have a better chance of hearing it than trying to listen through a brick wall, don't you?

Radhika Saithree - 5 years, 7 months ago

Well what you are trying to say is about the amplitude, but the question asked was about the speed. $\huge\ddot\smile$

Sravanth C. - 5 years, 7 months ago

Oh thanks :)

Radhika Saithree - 5 years, 7 months ago

Chebrolu Chandra Sekhar
May 18, 2015

As we know that the particles in solids are tightly packed and the force of attraction between the particles is very high compared to liquids and gases. So, sound travels faster in solids.

Hobart Pao
May 18, 2015

Not a solution but you should add "vacuum" as an answer choice and see if anyone picks it :P

Antonio Velazquez Bustamante
May 18, 2015

On The contrary, there is no spun propagation in vacuum. Sound needs a medium to propagate. The closest the molecule to perturbate, the faster it propagates.

Ed VanDyke
May 21, 2015

In a hypothetical "pure/perfect" density solid (at 0K) does "sound" travel at the speed of light? :)

Rama Devi
May 14, 2015

This can be very easily determined because we can observe that the velocity of sound in steel (which is obviously a solid) is greater than liquids and gases.

Stephen Rushbrook
Mar 22, 2016

Isn't this solution dependent on frequency and thus the energy of the sound? Bass travels quickest and furthest through solid and treble quickest through a gas?

Mohammed Shuaib Sheikh
Nov 6, 2015

Closer the particles faster the transfer of energy. In solids the particles are the colsest of the three. Hence the speed would be the greatest of the three

Jannat Muraza
Oct 15, 2015

Just use your common sense

Niraj Nayak
Jul 11, 2015

Sound travel fast in solid because it has more particles and it's particle are contact each other's.

Sohail Nasir
May 21, 2015

Liquids are more dense than gases, but less dense than solids, so sound travels 2nd fast in liquids. Gases are the slowest because they are the least dense: the molecules in gases are very far apart, compared with solids and liquids.

Mediums Of Sound

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