ELi5: Why is the speed of electricity not the speed of sound?

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I understand that the electrons themselves in a material travel fairly slow, but I’m talking about actual signal propagation. The speed of an electrical signal traveling through copper can achieve very high fractions of c, but the speed of sound in copper is only around 5010m/s. What causes the disconnect?

In: Physics

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The speed of sound in copper? Do you mean how fast a sound signal travels through a copper cable?

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