In a thunder and lightning storm there is a rule of thumb that many people follow. After seeing the lighning, count seconds to yourself. If it takes 5 seconds for the sound of thunder to reach you, then the lighning bolt was 1 mile away from you. Sound travels at 331 meters/second. How accurate is the rule of thumb? Express your answer as a percent error.
2007-04-02 05:54:26 · 4 answers · asked by M-azing08 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
The sound of the lightning that will travel in 5 seconds at 331 meters/ second
= 5*331
=1655 meters.
1mile =1 609.344 meters
Therefore, percentage error= (1655-1609.344)/1655*100%
=45.656/1655*100%
=2.758670695%
So, the rule of thumb is (100-2.758670695), or 97.24% accurate.
2007-04-02 06:02:16 · answer #1 · answered by Bubblez 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In 5 seconds, sound will have travelled 331*5 = 1655 m.
One mile = 1609 m.
(1655-1609)/1655 = 2.8 % error
2007-04-02 13:00:07 · answer #2 · answered by dudara 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
331*3.28=1085.68'/sec
5280'/mi/1085.68'/sec=4.86 sec /mile
error is 2.73%
The bigggest error wil usually be in the counting. Can you count in exact seconds? I can't.
2007-04-02 13:07:55 · answer #3 · answered by yupchagee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he he he ! it is very funny indeed. thank you for sharing
2007-04-02 13:00:27 · answer #4 · answered by gjmb1960 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋