Final answer:
Waves move faster at higher temperatures and in a solid phase due to increased kinetic energy and closely packed particles that vibrate faster, facilitating quicker wave transmission.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reason why waves move faster at higher temperatures and in solid phase is because there is more energy and the particles are closer together. In solids, particles are tightly packed in a lattice structure, which allows waves to travel quickly. When a solid is heated, the particles gain more kinetic energy, vibrate faster, making the transfer of energy between particles more efficient, and wave propagation speeds up. At high temperatures, particles have higher average kinetic energy and tend to move more quickly, favoring faster wave transmission.
In the context of sound waves, they travel faster through mediums where particles are tightly bound, like solids, and even faster when the medium's temperature is increased. As the kinetic energy of the particles increases with temperature, the particles vibrate more rapidly, and sound waves can be transmitted more quickly and effectively.