You are of course correct in that it is not prudent to model a gas as a lattice of particles connected by springs. I was not suggesting we use that model, but since I am referring to the stiffness (bulk modulus) of air, I thought that would get my point across but clearly it didn't. Apologies...
One of my students asked me the seemingly innocuous question of "how does wind affect the speed of sound?". My immediate thought was that the velocity of the wave would be the vector sum of the velocity of the wind and the velocity of sound waves in still air. However, upon further reflection I...