Richard Remington age 11, of Falmouth, Maine, for his question:

Does Sound travel faster in hot or cold air?

Vibrating sound energy must travel through a solid, a liquid or a gaseous medium. Its speed is regulated by the density of the medium, its temperature and the elastic quality of its molecules. It travels faster through liquid water than through air and much faster through dense steel. Warm air loses none of its elastic sound carrying quality, and sound waves travel faster through warm air than they do through cold air.

In air at 32 degrees Fahrenheit., the standard speed of sound is estimated to be 1088 feet per second. This is roughly 740 miles per hour. As the temperature rises, sound's speed increases at a rate of one and one tenth feet per second with every Fahrenheit degree rise in temperature. When the weather is a mild 62 degrees, the velocity of sound through the air is about 1121 feet per second. This is slightly faster than one mile in five seconds