Speed of Sound

Question 1 What is the speed of sound in air?

Question 2 What is the speed of sound in water?

Question 3 What is the speed of sound in solids?

Question 4 Where would sound travel faster- in wood or water?

Question 5 In which medium sound travel faster- air or iron?

Question 6 When we put our ears to a railway line, we can hear the sound of an approaching train even when the train is far off but its sound cannot be heard through the air. Why?

Question 7 Why flash of lightning is seen first but the sound of thunder is heard a little later?

Question 8 State one observation from everyday life which shows that sound travel much more slower than light? 

The speed of sound depends on the nature of medium through which it travels.

Sound travels slowest in gases, faster in liquid and fastest in solids.

Air: speed of sound is 340 m/s.

Water: speed of sound is 1500 m/s

Iron or steel: Speed of sound is 5000 m/s.

Speed of sound in air is 340 metres per second. This means that sound travels a distance of 340 metres in 1 seconds through air.

The speed of sound in water is 1500 metres per second. Sound travels about 5 times faster in water than in air. Sound can be heard very fast inside water is used by creatures like dolphins and whales living in the sea water to communicate with one another.

Sound travels at a speed of 5000 metres per second through iron or steel. This is more than 3 times the speed of sound in water.

If a train is very far away from us we cannot hear the sound of approaching trains through the air. But if we put our ears to the railway line made of steel, then we can hear the sound of the coming train easily even if it is quite far away. Sound travels much more faster through the railway line made of steel then through air.

The speed of sound in air is about 340 m/s and the speed of light in air is 3, 00, 000000 m/s. Sound travels at a slow speed but light travels much, much faster than sound.

In the rainy season, the flash of lightning is seen first and the sound of thunder is heard a little later. It is due to the very high speed of light that we see the flash of lightning first and it is due to comparatively low speed of sound that the thunder is heard a little later.