Question

The speed of sound in air on a certain stormy day is about 1130 feet per second. You see a flash of lightning striking some distance away, and seven seconds later you hear the clap of thunder. How many miles away did the lightning strike? Round your answer to the nearest mile. Note: The speed of light is so much faster than the speed of sound that you can assume that the strike occurs at the instant you see it.

Answer 1

To find the distance of the lightning strike, multiply the speed of sound (1130 feet/second) by the time delay (7 seconds) to get 7910 feet, which is approximately 1.5 miles and rounds to 1 mile.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the distance to the lightning strike, we will use the speed of sound in air, which is given as about 1130 feet per second. Since light travels much faster than sound, we can assume we saw the lightning at the instant it occurred. We heard the thunder seven seconds after seeing the lightning, so the sound traveled for seven seconds to reach us.

The distance the sound traveled is speed multiplied by time, which is:

• 1130 feet/second * 7 seconds = 7910 feet

Since there are 5280 feet in a mile, we then convert the distance from feet to miles:

• 7910 feet ÷ 5280 feet/mile ≈ 1.5 miles

When rounded to the nearest mile, the lightning struck approximately 1 mile away.

Answer 2

distance = 1.5 miles(approx.)

Step-by-step explanation:

given,

speed of sound = 1130 ft/s

1 ft = 0.3048

1130 ft/s = 0.3048 × 1130 m/s

= 344.424 m/s

time = 7 second

distance = speed × time

distance = 344.424 × 7

distance = 2410.968 m

1 m = 0.0006214 miles

2410.968 m = (0.0006214 × 2410.968) miles

distance = 1.498 miles

distance = 1.5 miles(approx.)