Does sound travel faster through solids, liquids or gasses? Why?

As another answerer noted, it's rigidity that is one of the main factors in determining the speed of sound. The other is density, but those who said greater density = faster sound speed are mistaken. The speed of sound is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the stiffness E to the density D. See ref. 1. Thus, e.g., the speed of sound in hydrogen is comparable to that in lead (ref. 2). The units of elastic modulus E and density D are, respectively, N/m^2 and kg/m^3, and the resulting unit of sqrt(E/D) comes out to be m/s. This can be analogized as the bulk-material equivalent to spring-mass system frequency being = sqrt(stiffness/mass).

There is a complicating detail, which requires the use of a scaling constant. Sound is a compression wave. E can be considered as the inverse of compressibility. The complication is that thermodynamics affects E. Compression heats the medium being compressed which changes its pressure-vs-volume characteristic. Thus E can have different values depending on whether rapid (adiabatic) or slow (isothermal) compression is considered. Ref. 1 gives both values for E(air). The propagation of sound is essentially adiabatic. Using the adiabatic value, 1.42E5 N/m^2 and a typical D value of 1.2 kg/m^3 we get a value for the speed of sound in air of sqrt(1.42E5/1.2) = 344 m/s, close enough considering the low precision of E and D.

BTW, the answer seems to be that sound is fastest in solids, in particular, diamond (ref. 2).

As a rule, sound travels fastest through solids (rigid solids that is), next fastest through liquids and finally slowest through gases. It is all about propogation of sound waves and how they can disperse and attenuate. Rigid solids, especially very rigid metals for example allow good propogation and the atoms are not that mobile within the crystaline like matrix that makes up the solid. Gasses on the other hand consist of highly mobile molecules unconnected to one another at all so propogation is impaired. There is also more space between molecules thus further affecting propogation. Liquids are part way between solid and gas and for the sake of simplicity you can interpolate between the two.

Sound travels faster through solids because they are a more dense material. The way sound travels through a medium (solids, liquids, or gases), is by vibrating the atoms that make up the material. Seeing how in a solid the atoms are really close together, it lets the sound vibrate through that material faster resulting in it actully traveling faster. Then it travels slower in less dense material mean slower in liquids and slowest in gases

Sound travels fastest through dense materials, since any given molecule travels a shorter distance before running into another.

Sound is just vibration, and vibrations transfer from one end of a molecule to the other very, very quickly. However, if there is a significant gap between molecules, it will take a longer time for the molecule to traverse this gap and deliver its vibrational energy to the next molecule.

The speed increases as the compressibility of the material decreases. Compressibility decreases as the amount of empty space in the material decreases.

This is highlighted by the fact that at standard temperature and pressure, the speed of sound in air is about 760 miles per hour, while it's 3,300 mph in water. In a stiff metal such as steel, it's about 13,000 mph.

The denser the material, the faster sound travels. Since solids are usually more dense than liquids and gases, the answer is solids.

Soilds because the molecules in a solid are more tightly packed together and therefore the sound can travel through them more easily.

Solids

Solids no doubt a little faster than liquids

Solids. The molecules are tighter together, or denser.

Increase in density increases sound speed.

WTF is with the THUMBS DOWN??? My job is analyzing sound and speed profiles!!!!!!! The ANSWER is THIS:

Increase in density increases sound speed. PERIOD. Solids are denser than liquids, which are denser than air. The SPEED will be faster in the denser object.

solids, because the molecules are closer together, so when sound is transferred- which is the the vibration of the molecules- they are closer together allowing the molecules to react faster and transfer sound.