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please solve with this formulafo = [ v / v – vs ] x fs3.The railroad crossing lights turn red, so McKayla and her sister must stop and wait for the train to pass by. As they wait, McKayla's sister Kylie grabs her phone and uses an app to measure the frequency of the approaching train's horn. The app reads 429 Hz. Assuming the train's original horn frequency is 400 Hz and the speed of sound is 330 m/s, how fast is the train going in m/s and miles per hour?

User Vero
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1 Answer

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17 votes

rearrangesAnswer:

Explanation:

For an approaching train with velocity vs, the observed frequency fo is


f_o=\frac{v_{\text{sound}}}{v_{\text{sound}}-v_{\text{train}}}f_{\text{source}}

Now we know that


\begin{gathered} f_o=429hz \\ f_{\text{source}}=400hz \\ v_{\text{sound}}=330m/s \\ v_{\text{train}}=\text{?} \end{gathered}

therefore, we have


429=\frac{330}{330-v_{\text{train}}}\cdot400

dividing both sides by 400 gives


(429)/(400)=\frac{330}{330-v_{\text{train}}}

which rearragnes to give


(429)/(400)\cdot(330-v_{\text{train}})=330
\Rightarrow330-v_{\text{train}}=330\cdot(400)/(429)
v_{\text{train}}=330-330\cdot(400)/(429)
v_{\text{train}}=(290)/(13)
\boxed{v_{\text{train}}=22.31m/s}

which in miles per hour is


\boxed{v_{\text{train}}=50\text{mph}}

User Oetzi
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