Question

A whale uses echolocation to navigate underwater. If the speed of sound in seawater is 1,530 m/s, how long would a whale need to wait after sending out a signal to hear the echo off of a boat 450 m away?

Answer 1

To determine how long a whale has to wait to hear an echo from a boat 450 m away, we calculate the round trip distance (900 m) and divide it by the speed of sound in seawater (1,530 m/s) to get approximately 0.588 seconds.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate how long a whale needs to wait to hear an echo from a boat 450 m away, we must consider that the sound wave will have to travel to the boat and back, doubling the distance. The speed of sound in seawater is 1,530 m/s. Using the formula Time = Distance / Speed, we can calculate the total time for the round trip.

Distance to the boat and back is 450 m each way, so the total distance is 2 × 450 m = 900 m.

Therefore, the time taken for the echo to return is:

Time = 900 m / 1,530 m/s
= 0.588 seconds (approximately).

So, the whale needs to wait for about 0.588 seconds to hear the echo off of a boat that is 450 m away.