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Johnny was playing baseball with his friends and they noticed a bolt of lightning. They heard thunder seven seconds later. How far away is the storm?

User Mnyikka
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2 Answers

4 votes

That particular strike was very roughly 2.4 km (1.5 miles) away from them.

That's if you use 340 m/s (1120 ft/sec) for the speed of sound.
But the air in the region for several thousand feet around a thunderstorm
is doing weird things to sounds that pass through it, so you can't use any
exact number for the speed of sound in a stormy area.

The only thing you can be absolutely sure of is that Johnny and his friends
need to round up their equipment and get in the house. NOW !
User Guido Neele
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6 votes

2,317 meters on edg!!

User JP Silvashy
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