Why do you not hear the sound of distant fireworks until after you see them?

Answer 1

Because the light outruns the sound...

Light (the carrier of the image that you see) travels at about 186,000 miles per second.

Sound travels (at standard temperature and pressure) at about .2 miles per second.

Think of mailing two letters at once- one by FedEx- gets there overnight, one by conventional mail... takes a while longer from the same source.

Answer 2

The fact that you included the word "distant" in your question makes me think you probably already know the answer.

Sound travels as a series of mechanical waves through air molecules. It travels at about 769MPH in normal, sea level conditions. The greater the pressure, the larger amount of mass for the sound to travel across, so the faster it goes. Sound travels about five times faster underwater.

The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, by comparison, so obviously, you see the fireworks before you hear them. If the fireworks are half a mile away, it takes a noticeable fraction of a second to hear the booms.

Answer 3

Simple " Sound travels slower than light " this is the exact sam effect in the summer when people say the lightening is 'Heat Lightening" caused by the heat - hence no sound at the time. However, this is not true. It is really lightening in the distant and since light travels faster than sound this is why you'll see the flash and a few moments later you'll hear the thunder.

Answer 4

because light travels faster than sound. so you SEE the firework in the distance first because the light from it is travelling faster than the sound coming from it, and then you HEAR the firework a little after you see it because by then the sound has reached you - after the light has.

Answer 5

Because light travels faster than sound,

The same principle applies to thunder and lightning. Which gives good reason to smile and be happy when you hear thunder . That means the lightning was somewhere in the distance. How far away can be measured by measuring the interval of time between seeing the flash and hearing the sound.

Answer 6

That noise is traveling at the 770 mph of sound. The flash is traveling at the faster 1/5 mile per second speed of light.

Answer 7

heyy there to answer this question u sgd look up the speeds of sound and light......sound travels at 332m/s and light travels at 3,00,000km/s....u see theres a hell lot of difference b/w the speeds of light and sound so seeing is a phenomenon of light and and hearing is phenomenon of sound so u see the fireworks first and then hear em due to the large difference in the speeds

Answer 8

The speed of sound in air is only approximately 343 meters per second, and the spped of light is in the neighborhood of 300,000,000 meters per second. You see the light immediately, but the sound lags behind.