Question

the speed of sound in solid, liquid and gas can be correctly compared as
(A) Solid > liquid > gas
(B) Liquid > gas > solid
(C) Liquid > solid > gas
(D) Gas > liquid > solid

Answer 1

Hint : Sound is a mechanical wave and mechanical waves can only travel through matter. The matter in which sound travel is called medium. When the particles are closer together, they can more quickly pass the energy of vibration to the nearby particle. There are three states of matter namely, solid, liquid, and gas. The distance between particles is least in the solid-state. In the gas state, the distance between particles is more than that of the solid-state. Gas is the state in which the distance between particles is highest.

Complete Step by step solution:
Step 1: speed of sound in solid.
Solid materials are denser than liquid or gas material. If the material is denser it means that the particles are relatively closer. Because of this closeness of molecules in the solid-state one molecule can transfer the sound energy more quickly to the neighboring molecule than the gaseous or liquid state.
Step 2: speed of sound in a liquid state.
Similarly, the density of the liquid is less than that of solid and greater than the density of gases. The molecules are closer in liquid than gases. But the molecule is less close in liquid than the solid-state. Therefore a molecule takes more time to transfer the energy to the neighboring molecule in the liquids than gases.
Step 3: speed of sound in gases.
Gases are the state of matter in which the molecules are spread out the most. Therefore it takes more time to transfer the wave energy from one molecule to another. As result sound waves take more time in gases to travel than the liquid or solid.
Therefore the correct order of the speed of sound in a different medium is solid > liquid > gas.

Hence the option A is correct.

Note: The speed of sound depends on many factors like temperature, state of matter, etc. But the speed of sound does not depend on the density always. The density of a matter tells us that the molecules are close to each other. The speed of sound depends on the stiffness of the solid material. Stiffer the material then higher the speed of sound.