I was watching an XKCD "What-If" video recently and Randal off-handedly mentions the title fact as a given. Upon a further Google search I see explanations about why sound moves faster in liquids than gasses but nothing for my specific question. Is there an intuitive explanation for that fact or is it just one of those weird observable facts with no clear explanation

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

Basically, when you push something, you push molecules, those in turn push the other molecules etc., that's what it is.

The delay is there every time, it's just usually really fast, the speed of sound in solid mediums is much bigger than the speed of sound in air.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments