Question

The relationship between the time you see lightning and the time you hear thunder is directly proportional to the distance the lighting is from where you are standing. Josh counted 12 seconds between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder, and he knew that the lightning was about 5 miles away. If he counted 7 seconds between the next flash of lightning and thunder, about how far away was the lightning? Round to the nearest whole number.

Answer 1

Step 1: For solving this exercise, we need to know the speed of sound. We will calculate it this way:

Speed = Distance/Time

Replacing with the values Josh has.

Speed = 5 miles/12 seconds

Speed = 0.417 miles per second

Step 2: Now, let's calculate the distance after 7 seconds:

Using the same formula, we can find the distance, as follows:

Distance = Speed * Time

Distance = 0.417 * 7

Distance = 2.919

Distance = 3 miles (Rounding to the nearest whole number)

Step 3: Interpretation of the answer, as follows:

The lightning was 3 miles away when Josh counted 7 seconds between the next flash of lightning and thunder.