According to a rule of thumb, every five seconds between a lightning flash and the following thunder gives the distance of the storm in miles. Assuming that the flash of light arrives in essentiall no time at all, estimate the speed of sound in m/s from this rule.
2007-06-01 14:05:54 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
one mile in 5 seconds = 1/5 mile per second.
1/5 mile per second = 1056ft/second
1 meter=3.281 ft
1056 ft/sec = 322 m/sec
This is a rule of thumb, so these numbers are not exactly the speed of sound, but pretty close.
2007-06-01 14:31:21 · answer #1 · answered by mr.perfesser 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The thumb rule says that sound takes 5 seconds to cross 1 mile.
Therefore, its speed is 1/5 or 0.2 mile per second.
0.2 mile corresponds to 0.2 x 1609.344 meters = 321.9 meter per second.
As per the thumb rule the speed of sound is 321.9 meter per second.
2007-06-01 23:12:46 · answer #2 · answered by Pearlsawme 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The flash is more or less directly overhead and, only a few hundred feet away..measuring the time for the sound would need specialised equipment.
2007-06-01 21:12:04 · answer #3 · answered by Norrie 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
This would give you about 0.2 miles/s =322m/s close to about 335m/s in air
2007-06-01 21:26:45 · answer #4 · answered by santmann2002 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋