Speed of sound
Basic concepts

Some textbooks mistakenly state that the speed of sound increases with density. This notion is illustrated by presenting data for three materials, such as air, water, and steel and noting that the speed of sound is higher in the denser materials. But the example fails to take into account that the materials have vastly different compressibility, which more than makes up for the differences in density, which would slow wave speeds in the denser materials. An illustrative example of the two effects is that sound travels only 4.3 times faster in water than air, despite enormous differences in compressibility of the two media. The reason is that the greater density of water, which works to slow sound in water relative to the air, nearly makes up for the compressibility differences in the two media.
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