H2 and o2 are at same temp which gas will have greater sound velocity
Answers
1.
I would argue that sound does not travel through either gas at all. In order to test my theory you would have to be inside a container of each and I doubt you would survive long enough to detect sound and report your findings. Now, you say “I could put instruments inside the containers to detect sound!” to which I would reply, “Such instruments can only detect waves that propagate through the medium. These waves can only be called sound when they encounter an ear and are conducted by an auditory nerve into a brain to be translated into a sound.
To my point only waves in the 20 HZ to 20 kHz range can be heard. An explosion for instance might produce waves far above and far below that range. Would we call them merely waves just because we can’t hear them. Although they emanated from the same source at the same time?
2.Why is the speed of sound in hydrogen different than in oxygen?
I would argue that sound does not travel through either gas at all. In order to test my theory you would have to be inside a container of each and I doubt you would survive long enough to detect sound and report your findings. Now, you say “I could put instruments inside the containers to detect sound!” to which I would reply, “Such instruments can only detect waves that propagate through the medium. These waves can only be called sound when they encounter an ear and are conducted by an auditory nerve into a brain to be translated into a sound.
To my point only waves in the 20 HZ to 20 kHz range can be heard. An explosion for instance might produce waves far above and far below that range. Would we call them merely waves just because we can’t hear them. Although they emanated from the same source at the same time?
2.
Hydrogen molecules are only 1/8 the mass of oxygen molecules. So, at the same temperataure, hydrogen molecules must travel much faster in order to have the same kinetic energy, on average, per molecule.
Higher speed of the molecules means it can transmit pressure waves that much more quickly.