alleryStart learning →Sound reaches you faster through a steel rail than through the air. Why?
ASteel is far more rigid than air
BSteel is far less dense than air
CSteel is much warmer than the air
DSteel carries no vibration at all
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Steel is far more rigid than air
1. Rigidity raises the speed of sound and density lowers it.
2. Solids are relatively rigid and very difficult to compress.
3. Steel is far denser than air, yet its rigidity more than makes up for that.
4. So sound in solids is generally faster than sound in gases.
_Source: OpenStax Physics (high school, CC BY 4.0), Ch 14 "Sound", section The Speed of Sound_
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