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Sound on the move

Sound is a pressure wave, but this wave behaves slightly differently through air as compared to water. Water is denser than air, so it takes more energy to generate a wave, but once a wave has started, it will travel faster than it would do in air.

Sound in water

Prof John Montgomery, the head of Auckland University Leigh Marine Laboratory, explains how sound travels in water and how this is different to how sound travels in air. He explains why sound can travel so much further in the ocean compared to on land.

Point of interest: In this clip. you’ll hear the ‘song’ of the humpback whale. The humpback whale song is known to travel large distances through the ocean.

Rights: University of Waikato

A relay race

Sound travels by particles bumping into each other as they vibrate. It is a little like a relay race – each runner holds a little bit of information (the baton), and when they make contact with the next runner, they pass the information on.

In the case of sound, the runners are particles and the information (baton) they are passing along is energy of vibration. In a sound wave, a particle picks up some energy and keeps it until it bumps into a neighbouring particle. The next particle will then pick up the energy and transfer it to the next one in the chain. This happens extremely fast and is detected as a wave of pressure.

Sound won’t travel in a vacuum because there are no particles to bump together to transmit the vibration.

Sound in air

In a gas like air, the particles are generally far apart so they travel further before they bump into one another. There is not much resistance to movement so it doesn’t take much to start a wave, but it won’t travel as fast.

Particle nature of matter model: Solid, Liquid and Gas diagram.

Particle nature of matter model

The particle nature of matter is a good example of a scientific model. Models are just explanations of perceived representations of reality.

Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Sound in water

In water, the particles are much closer together, and they can quickly transmit vibration energy from one particle to the next. This means that the sound wave travels over four times faster than it would in air, but it takes a lot of energy to start the vibration. A faint sound in air wouldn’t be transmitted in water as the wave wouldn’t have enough energy to force the water particles to move.

Sound in solids

In a solid, the particles are even closer together and linked by chemical bonds so the wave travels even faster than it does in either liquid or air, but you need quite a lot of energy to start the wave at the beginning.

Sound and temperature

Prof John Montgomery sitting in rocks in Antarctica

Prof John Montgomery in Antarctica

Professor John Montgomery visits Antarctica as part of his research work. John was active in the NZ Antarctic Programme through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. His research included work on how Antarctic fish use sound for feeding in winter darkness.

Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Temperature has a marked influence on the speed of sound. This is not due to a change in how closely together the particles are to each other but relates to the amount of energy that each particle has. Hot particles have more energy and transmit sound better than cold particles. Water in Antarctica will transmit sound slower than water in the tropics.

Some comparisons for the speed of sound in different materials

Air at 20°C

343 metres per second (m/s) – also known as Mach1

Air at 0°C

331 m/s

Helium at 0°C

965 m/s

Water at 20°C

1,482 m/s

Water at 0°C

1,417 m/s

Solid steel

5,960 m/s

Related content

Explore the science concept related to sound further with these articles:

In our recorded PLD session Sounds of Aotearoa a group of primary science educators introduce some fun ways you can learn and teach about sound.

Activity ideas

Use these activities to explore some essential physics ideas relating to sound, but in a whole new way.

Published: 10 May 2011,Updated: 10 May 2011