Question

It was a dark and stormy night, when suddenly you saw a flash of lightning. Three-and-a-half seconds later you heard the thunder. Given that the speed of sound in air is about 340 m/s, how far away was the lightning bolt?

Answer 1

To find the distance of the lightning bolt, multiply the speed of sound (340 m/s) by the time delay between seeing the flash and hearing the thunder (3.5 seconds), resulting in a distance of 1190 meters.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the distance of the lightning bolt, we will use the information that the speed of sound in air is about 340 meters per second (m/s). When you count the time from seeing the lightning to hearing the thunder, this time difference is due to the fact that light travels much faster than sound and reaches us almost instantaneously. Here are the steps for the calculation:

1. First, note the time lag between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder, which is 3.5 seconds.
2. Since we know that sound travels at 340 m/s, we can use the formula distance = speed × time.
3. Now, multiply the speed of sound by the time lag: 340 m/s × 3.5 s = 1190 m.
4. Therefore, the lightning bolt was 1190 meters away from you.

Answer 2

We're going to multiply the time it took for you to hear thunder (3.5 seconds) by the speed of sound in air (340 m/s)

3.5 x 340 = 1190

The lightning bolt was 1,190 meters away.