Suppose you hear a clap of thunder 6.60 s after seeing the associated lightning strike. The speed of light in air is 3.00 ✕ 108 m/s. (a) How far are you from the lightning strike? (The speed of sound waves in air is 343 m/s.) in km (b) Do you need to know the value of the speed of light to answer? Explain.

Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based Text
5th Edition
ISBN:9781133104261
Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett
Publisher:Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett
Chapter13: Mechanical Waves
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Suppose you hear a clap of thunder 6.60 s after seeing the associated lightning strike. The speed of light in air is 3.00 ✕ 108 m/s.

(a) How far are you from the lightning strike? (The speed of sound waves in air is 343 m/s.) in km

(b) Do you need to know the value of the speed of light to answer? Explain.

 
Expert Solution
Step 1

Consider t is the time taken by the sound to reach the observer after the lightning strike.

Then, the time taken by the sound is t=6.60 sec

Let s be the distance travelled by the sound.

(a)

Then, the distance between the observer and the strike is,

distance=speed×times=v×ts=343 m/s6.60 secs=2263.8 ms=2.264 km

The distance between the observer and the strike is 2.264 km

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