Question

Speed of the sound wave in the air
(A) is independent of temperature
(B) Increases with pressure
(C) Increase with an increase in humidity
(D) Decreases with an increase in humidity.

Answer 1

Hint:The speed of sound is defined as the distance traveled by the sound wave per unit time as it propagates through the medium. The velocity of sound is directly proportional to the square root of the temperature. As humidity increases the density decreases and thus speed of sound increases.

 Complete step by step answer:
Speed of sound waves in air increases with an increase in humidity.
The speed of sound in air is 343m/s. The speed of sound in air is directly proportional to the square root of temperature as given below.
${C_{air}} \propto \sqrt T $
Here, ${C_{air}}$=speed of sound in air
            T=temperature of medium
Therefore if the humidity increases then the density decreases as a result speed of sound increases. Therefore, as humidity increases speed of sound also increases.
Hence, option (C) is the correct option.

Additional information:
The speed of sound depends on the medium: it travels most slowly in gases, and travels faster in liquids; and faster still solids.
Sound waves in solids are composed of compression waves and a different type of sound wave called a shear wave, occurs only in solids.
The speed of sound in a fluid medium, liquid or gas is used as a relative measure for the speed of an object moving through the medium.
an object's Mach number is defined as the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the fluid.
The objects which move with the speeds greater than 1 are called to be traveling at supersonic speeds.

Note:
The sound of waves depends strongly on temperature as well as the medium through which a sound wave is propagating.
In gar or liquid sound consists of compression waves.
In solids, the sound wave travels in two types, (1) longitudinal waves and (2) transverse waves.