Question

The velocity of sound in steel is ______ than the velocity of sound in water. Fill in the blank and explain.

Answer 1

Hint: A vibrating object produces sound, which is a pressure wave. The vibrations cause particles in the surrounding medium (typical air) to vibrate, causing energy to be transported through the medium.

Complete answer:
Sound is a series of pressure waves that travel through compressible media like air or water. (Sound can also travel through solids, but there are different modes of transmission.) Waves may be mirrored, refracted, or attenuated by the medium during their propagation. However, sound travels at different speeds in different substances: sound travels the slowest in gases, the fastest in liquids, and the fastest in solids.
Solids transmit sound the fastest. This is due to the fact that molecules in a solid are packed tightly together. As a vibration starts, the molecules of a solid collide right away, and the compression wave moves quickly.
Thus the answer to the given question is,
The velocity of sound in steel is greater than the velocity of sound in water.

Note: Any object that travels faster than the speed of sound is said to be travelling at supersonic speed. Bullets, jet planes, and other objects often fly at supersonic speeds. Shock waves are generated in the air when a sound-producing object travels faster than the speed of sound. These shock waves have a lot of energy in them. The “sonic boom” is a very sharp and loud sound generated by the air pressure variation associated with this form of shock waves. A supersonic aircraft's shock waves have enough energy to break glass and even destroy buildings.