Question

Which of the following statements about sound waves is correct?
A) Sound waves are not affected by the medium through which it travels.
B) Sound waves travel faster in air than in liquid.
C) Sound waves travel faster in a solid than in liquids and gases.
D) Sound waves cannot travel through a solid.

Answer 1

Hint
The speed of sound depends on the medium through which the waves travel. Sound waves vibrate the molecules in the medium to move. The speed depends on the Packing of molecules in the medium.

Complete step by step answer
Sound waves are longitudinal waves. The speed of sound waves depends on the medium through which the waves travel. This is one of the fundamental properties of sound. So, option A is incorrect. Sound waves travel by vibrating the molecules in the medium. Sound is a kind of disturbance which travels as a result of collisions between molecules in the medium. Closer the molecules packed, higher will be the molecular collisions and similarly the speed of sound waves. Since molecules in solids are more densely packed than in molecules in liquid which are tightly packed than molecules in gases. So, we can say that sound travels faster in solids than in liquids and slower in gases.
Hence option (C) is correct.

Note
Generally, we tend to think particles in gases move faster and therefore sound travels faster in gases but this is wrong because sound is not carried by linear motion of particles instead it is carried along by vibrational motion of the particles.Sound waves don’t travel in space as there exist no medium in space.