# How is it possible for a sound to travel ten miles in ten seconds?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-for-a-sound-to-travel-ten-miles-in-ten-seconds/602786>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 13, 2011, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-for-a-sound-to-travel-ten-miles-in-ten-seconds/602786 "2011-11-13T12:15:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-for-a-sound-to-travel-ten-miles-in-ten-seconds/602786/41 "2011-11-15T10:16:38Z")

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> [@Molesworth\_2](#):
>
> The denser the medium, the faster sound travels through it. In a dense enough medium my understanding is that sound could quite easily travel ten miles in ten seconds.

Indeed, but there’s nothing in the news about the atmosphere momentarily turning to solid tungsten (or whatever) on Armistice Day.

Others have proposed ground conduction above, but I’m not sure that’s likely - the London area is all chalk, clay and gravel - no nice solid bedrock anywhere near the surface.

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