In which of the following media does sound travel the fastest?

CONCEPT:

• Sound: A local disturbance whose propagation is facilitated by the collisions between particles this disturbance propagates in a longitudinal wave, imagine one molecule hitting the next molecule, and then that molecule hitting the next, and so forth.
  • It is a mechanical wave that needs a medium to travel.
  • The speed of sound is maximum in solid then it is in liquid and slowest in gases.
  • Speed of sound: The distance traveled per unit time by sound waves as it propagates through an elastic medium.

The velocity of sound  in a gaseous medium is given by:

\(\Rightarrow v=\sqrt {\frac {γ P}{ρ}}\)

Where P = pressure, ρ = density, and γ = ratio of two principal specific heats of the gas

• The speed of sound remains almost the same for all frequencies in a given medium under the same physical conditions.
• A state of matter is one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist.
  • The four fundamental states of matters are - solids, liquids, gases, and plasma.

EXPLANATION:

• Solid-state is one of the four fundamental states of matter, in which the constituent particles (ions, atoms, etc) are closely packed together.
• The speed of sound is maximum in solids and least in gases. So option 4 is correct.

EXTRA POINTS

https://ncert.nic.in/ncerts/l/iesc112.pdf