Question

Speed of sound is ________ in solid and __________ in gases.

Answer 1

Hint: In this question, first we will understand what is the basic of sound and then learn about the speed of sound in different mediums like solid, liquid and gas. Further this information will give us the required knowledge of speed of sound, which will help us to find the answer to the above question.

Complete step by step answer:
As we know from the basics of sound that a sound is produced when something vibrates.
Further, the matter that supports the sound is called the medium i.e., sound needs a medium to travel. Sound cannot travel through a vacuum.
A sound travels fastest in solids, slowest in air and water is in between. The reason behind this is that the particles in solids are closer together than the particles in liquids or gases. Also, the particles in liquids are closer together when compared to the particles in gases.
Since, the tighter particles are packed in a space, they collide more frequently. This allows sound, which is simply the combined collisions of particles, to travel fastest in solids.

Therefore we can say that, sound travels fastest in solids, then water, and slowest in the gases.

Additional Information:
The supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound. In an object which is traveling in dry air at a temperature of 20 °C or 68 °F at sea level, this speed is approximately 343.2 m/s. Further, speed that is greater than five times the speed of sound is referred to as hypersonic.

Note: Here we should notice that the speed of sound is different in different mediums. Further, the speed that is more than the speed of sound is termed differently like- supersonic, hypersonic etc. we should also remember that the speed of sound cannot reach the speed of light.