Your friend says that any radio wave travels appreciably faster then any sound wave. Do you agree or disagree,

Answer 1

I suppose there are media in which a sound wave and a radio wave move at about the same speed, but they would be very special materials. Mostly, radio waves (like all electromagnetic waves) move much faster than sound waves. I would point to the difference in times for light and sound from a lightning strike to prove my point.

Answer 2

For any ordinary materials the radio wave (which travels at the speed of light) will always be faster than the sound wave. However, the formula for sound velocity in a solid is

v = √[E/d] Where E is the Young's modulus and d the density.

There may be a material that has an E and d value such that the speed of sound approaches that of light. However, it can never exceed light velocity. In computing such high sound velocities it is necessary to use the relativistic Euler Equation
v^2 = c^2 * ∂p/∂e; Unfortunately I have no idea of how to solve this, but I strongly suspect that the quantity ∂p/∂e can never exceed 1.

Answer 3

Radio waves travel at 186000 miles per second through air. In contrast, sound waves travel at only 1/5 of a mile per second, so i would agree

Answer 4

The statement is correct. Any radio wave travels at 299,792,458 meters per second. No sound wave can travel anywhere near that fast.

Answer 5

Yes! I agree. radio waves are EM waves and therefore travel at the speed of light which is many orders of magnitude greater than the speed of sound.

Answer 6

yes i would certainly agree!

radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum so they travel at 299 792 458 m / s, whereas at sea level sound travels at 340.29 m / s

This is 880,991 times slower than the speed of radio waves!!