Would sound travel faster through an iron or a body of water?

Answer 1

Speed of sounds depends on the type of medium and temperature of the medium .

As we know that sound travels fastest in solid medium than any other medium, sound would probably travel faster through an iron than the body of water.

the molecules in water are farther apart while in a solid body they are very closely packed. When a sound wave hits a solid body the molecules vibrate and transfer the vibrations of the wave to the next molecule. in this way the sound wave doesn't need to travel that much a distance and can easily travel faster in a solid body.

while in a liquid the molecules are farther apart and the wave has to cover a more large distance to be transmitted through the liquid.

so in this way the sound has more speed through solid (iron) than liquid (water).

The exact speed of sound in iron is 5130 meters per second..

Whereas, the speed of sound in water at 25 degree Celsius is 1493 meters per second.

However, the speed of sound in all solids are not faster than in all liquids.

Answer 2

Sound travels through air the fastest since air has the least amount of particles(thus having the most space for the sound to travel) in it than wood and juice. The particles of wood are tightly packed together, meaning that there is hardly any space for the sound to pass through. The particles in the juice (and any liquid) roll over each other, thus having some space for sound to pass through.