⚡ THE SPEED OF SOUND
PAGE 1 OF 5 · NOT ALL SOUND IS EQUAL
SPEED CHANGES
SOUND HAS A SPEED LIMIT!
Sound travels at different speeds depending on the material. It moves fastest through solids like steel, slower through water, and slowest through the air we breathe every single day. The medium matters because sound needs particles to bump together, and some materials pass those bumps along much faster than others.
⚡ DID YOU KNOW?
In air at room temperature, sound zooms along at about 343 meters per second. That is roughly 1,235 kilometers per hour, faster than a race car but far slower than light!
ZOOM!
FASTEST
🔩 Steel: about 5,000 m/s
🪵 Wood and rock are fast too
🪵 Wood and rock are fast too
SLOWEST
💨 Air: about 343 m/s
🌊 Water sits in the middle
🌊 Water sits in the middle