Why does sound travel faster in liquids than gases?

Question

Good answer please, must porvide clear and concise facts on why this is the case.

The best answer will be choosen within 4 hours.

Answer 1

yes, sound travels fastest when molecules are closer together so carry the vibrations further and with more amplitude.

If you had a long metal pipe 1/2 mile long and whacked it at one end you would here it at the other end no problem.
Stand 1/2 mile away from where the pipe is being hit away from it's length you here little.

Answer 2

Sound travels in waves as a message by wiggling atoms and molecules. The closer these are together, the faster the message travels, much like dominoes falling down faster if they are stood up closer together than if they are separated by almost their length. So, if the sound travels along a path where the density of the atoms is higher, then the "message" gets through faster.

In a liquid, the particles are touching each other. Some of sound's energy is wasted pushing the particles around because they can slide past each other. As a result it moves slower than it would as compared to solids but faster than it would as compared to gas.

In a gas, the molecules are rather far apart. For sound to travel through a gas, the molecules must move quite a distance before they collide with other molecules in order for the sound wave to travel. Sound energy cannot move as quickly when the molecules are not in contact with each other.

Answer 3

The speed of sound depends on both the density and the elasticity of the medium it's travelling through. Sounds travels in waves of compression and rarity, so it's fastest in solids because the molecules are packed together more tightly. Sound is next fastest in liquids, again for the same reason. It's slowest in a gas. And, in a gas, the temperature is particularly important--the faster the molecules are moving from heat, the more sound energy they can transfer to their neighbors.

As far as distance travelled --- again, solids and liquids win. However, ther's an additional factor called 'damping' that depends on the elesticity of the medium the sounds waves are travelling through, also scattering. It ends up that lower-frequency sound waves can travel much longer distances than high frequency sounds....this is how whales can communicate over long distances in the ocean--and how elephants do the same in air. Both do their 'long distance' calling with low frequencies

Answer 4

Sound is an elastic compression wave. The speed of sound equals the square root of the ratio of the elastic modulus to the density of the medium, so density actually works against having a higher sound speed. Liquids are very much less elastic (compressible) than gases, though, because their molecules interact more strongly with each other, being so close. That's why the sound speed is higher.

Answer 5

Sound is the propogation of a wave of energy. When molecules are farther apart, they have to travel a greater distance before coliding with another molecule (to transfer energy). When the molecules are closer together, as is the case of a liquid, the molecules don't have to travel as far to transfer energy. The energy wave (sound) will travel faster and farther in liquid than in gas.

Because the molecules of liquids and gases are have more energy than in a solid, the energy of sound readily propogates. In solids, a greater proportion of the energy of sound is transfered into kinetic energy to get the molecules to move, disipating the energy wave. This means that sound doesn't travel as far in solids.

Answer 6

The speed of sound increases with the stiffness of the material. Water is stiffer than air, rock or metal is stiffer than water. So sound goes faster in metals, not so fast in rock, slower in water and slower yet in air. In general the speed of sound is given by Cs = (S/d)^1/2 where Cs is the speed of sound, S is the coefficient of stiffness and d is the density of the material. In solids replace S with E, Young's modulus for the material. In a liquid, replace S with K, the bulk modulus, and in air use (adiabatic index) x pressure.

Answer 7

The speed of propagation of sound due to the elastic deformation depends upon the mechanical properties of the body.

Speed is inversely proportional to the square root of the product of the density and the compressibility of the body.

It is obvious that this product is high for solids than for liquid and gases.

Also this product is high for liquid than for gases.

Compressibility of gas is very high compared to liquid and solid.

Answer 8

Gases are compressible and liquids are not (or at least, they are far less compressible). Liquids are generally much denser than gases as well. Both of these factors lead to a higher speed of sound transmission in liquids.

Answer 9

Sound travels be hitting molecules.Molecules of a gas are closer together than molecules of a gas so it travels faster in a solid than a liquid than a gas.Sorry as it's new year's eve i'm a bit pi**ed tonight.

Answer 10

The molecular structure of water is denser and more tightly packed than that of a gas. Therefore it acts as a solid and seamless mass through which the signal can be transferred at far higher speeds.