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Which change will increase the speed of a sound wave traveling in a solid aluminum rod?

changing the rod from a solid to a liquid
changing the rod from a solid to a gas
decreasing the temperature of the rod
increasing the temperature of the rod

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Decreasing the temperature of the rod.

Reason: Longitudinal sound speed in a solid rod ≈ sqrt(E/ρ) (E = Young’s modulus, ρ = density). Changing to a liquid or gas greatly lowers the elastic modulus so the speed drops. For aluminum, Young’s modulus increases as temperature decreases (so E goes up), so cooling the rod raises the sound speed (density changes are small compared with the modulus effect).