Question

The speed of sound varies according to the material through which it travels. Sound travels at 5.4×10^9 cm/s through rubber and at 1.97×10^5 ft/s through granite. Calculate each of these speeds in m/s.

a) Rubber: 5.4×10^5m/s, Granite: 1.97×10^7 m/s
b) Rubber: 5.4×10^2 m/s, Granite: 1.97×10^3 m/s
c) Rubber: 5.4×10^3 m/s, Granite: 1.97×10^5 m/s
d) Rubber: 5.4×10^7 m/s, Granite: 1.97×10^4 m/s

Answer 1

To convert the speed of sound from cm/s to m/s for rubber, multiply by 0.01 to obtain 5.4×107 m/s. For granite, convert ft/s to m/s by multiplying by 0.3048 to get approximately 6.0×104 m/s.

Step-by-step explanation:

To convert the speeds of sound from cm/s in rubber and ft/s in granite to meters per second (m/s), we can use the following unit conversion factors: 1 cm = 0.01 m and 1 ft = 0.3048 m. We'll apply these to convert each of the given speeds.

For rubber:
5.4×109 cm/s × 0.01 m/cm = 5.4×107 m/s

For granite:
1.97×105 ft/s × 0.3048 m/ft = 6.00456×104 m/s, which is generally rounded off to 6.0×104 m/s for simplicity.

Therefore, the correct option with the speeds converted to m/s would be:

• Rubber: 5.4×107 m/s
• Granite: 6.0×104 m/s