十万个为什么·科学启蒙30篇（2）
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Why Does Sound Travel Faster in Water Than in Air?
为什么声音在水中比在空气中传播得更快？
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Sound travels as vibrations that move through particles in a medium like air or water.
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Water molecules are packed much more tightly than air molecules, so energy transfers faster.
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In air at 20°C, sound moves at about 343 meters per second.
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In seawater, sound travels at approximately 1,500 meters per second—over four times faster.
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Temperature, pressure, and salinity all affect how fast sound moves underwater.
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Whales use low-frequency sounds to communicate across hundreds of kilometers in oceans.
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Sonar devices send out sound pulses and measure echoes to map underwater terrain.
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Unlike light, sound bends—or refracts—when moving between layers of different water temperatures.
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This bending allows sound to travel long distances along ocean 'sound channels'.
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That is why submarines can detect each other from far away using passive sonar.