Why is water said to be “incompressible” when sound can travel through it? Doesn’t sound imply compressions and rarefactions?

Question

Why is water said to be “incompressible” when sound can travel through it? Doesn’t sound imply compressions and rarefactions?

In: 93

Answer 1

Water is said to be incompressible because it doesn’t compress very much. This means that when sound waves travel through water, the water molecules don’t move closer together (compress) or further apart (rarefy) very much.