Sound travels at different speeds through different materials due to the varying amounts of space between molecules. For example, sound travels faster through metal than air. The stiffness of a material affects the speed of sound. The first attempt to measure the speed of sound was in 1635.
Sound is the result of molecules interacting or disturbing each other, so sound doesn’t travel at the same speed through different materials because there are varying amounts of space between molecules of different types of materials. For example, sound travels about 17 times faster when passing through metal than through air: more than 10,000 mph (16.093 km/h) through metal, compared with about 761 mph (1.224 km/h) through air. air. In water, sound travels about four times faster than in air, at about 3,000 mph (4.828 km/h). Sound travels more slowly in air because air is made up mostly of nitrogen and oxygen, whose molecules aren’t arranged as rigidly as those of materials like water or steel. The higher the stiffness of a material, the faster the sound travels because the molecules interact more with each other.
More about the speed of sound:
Sound can travel 60 miles (97 km) per second through a rubber band.
The first attempt to measure the speed of sound was in 1635 by Pierre Gassendi, who calculated the difference between the firing of a cannon and the moment its roar could be heard at a distance.
The sound a whip makes when it is cracked is the result of the tip moving so fast that it breaks the sound barrier.
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