Sound travels faster in a hard solid

[TheMightyTexan]

and light will be slower.. light travels fastest in a vacuum because it is a transverse wave not longitudinal.

Sound is faster in a medium that has elastic properties and slower in mediums that are "heavy".

This is kinda confusing... the hard solid is heavy and the atoms are more fixed in place than liquids... To what do you give the priority or deduce how to find which medium will project sound waves faster? Any intuitive approach is welcome or examples

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[TheMightyTexan]

I got this problem wrong earlier and just made not of this phenomenon but now i want to make sure i know what happens in other mediums too since it seems simple enough

 

[Megalomis]

I agree, that is confusing. Any physics people around? Sorry I can't help.

 

[justadream]

I'm sure there's a great explanation for both but it's easier to just memorize that sound speed is:

Solid > Liquid > Gas

I believe this is because atoms in a solid don't move around much so energy is propagated easily from one atom to its neighbor.

As for light traveling slower in dense mediums, just think of light bouncing around (and taking more "random" paths) in a dense material. The light is absorbed and emitted by the atoms constantly but these processes take time. I think I got this explanation from some AAMC question (I forgot which).