The speed of sound in air is approximately:

## The reasoning Sound travels through air by creating compression waves—air molecules bump into each other passing the vibration along. At room temperature (around 20°C, typical for Nigeria), sound moves at approximately **330 m/s** (or more precisely, 343 m/s). This is a fundamental constant you should memorize: sound in air ≈ 330-340 m/s. To get a feel for it: if you see lightning and hear thunder 3 seconds later, the storm is roughly 1 km away (330 m/s × 3 s ≈ 1000 m). ## Why the wrong options tempt you **A) 30 m/s** — This is just a car's speed (about 108 km/h). Too slow! Sound would take forever to travel. **C) 3,000 m/s** — You might confuse this with sound in denser materials like steel, where it travels much faster. **D) 300,000 m/s** — This is the speed of *light* (actually 3×10⁸ m/s), not sound. That's why you see lightning before hearing thunder! ## Quick takeaway **Sound in air ≈ 330 m/s; light is a million times faster at 300,000 km/s—never confuse the two!**