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Among the following materials sound travels fastest in
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- Steel
- Air
- Vacuum
- Water
- Steel
Correct Option: A
The speed of sound is the distance travelled during a unit of time by a sound wave propagating through an elastic medium. In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound is 343.2 metres per second (1,126 ft/s). the speed of sound varies from substance to substance. Sound travels faster in liquids and nonporous solids than it does in air. It travels about 4.3 times as fast in water (1,484 m/s), and nearly 15 times as fast in iron (5,120 m/s), than in air at 20 degrees Celsius. Sound waves in solids are composed of compression waves (just as in gases and liquids), but also exhibit a different type of sound wave called a shear wave, which occurs only in solids.