Question

sir isaac newton predicted a speed of sound that was tested by william derham in 1709. derham used shotguns fired from church towers near london, england that were 20.1 km apart. by watching for the flash of the gun firing and listening for the sound of its blast he was able to calculate a precise value for the speed of sound. in one test, he found the time between the flash of the gun and hearing the sound to be 57.8s. calculate the speed of sound.

Answer 1

Using the method of timing how long it takes sound to travel a known distance, the speed of sound can be calculated by dividing the distance by the time. In Derham's test where the distance was 20.1 km and the time was 57.8 seconds, the speed of sound is found to be approximately 347.75 m/s.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the speed of sound using William Derham's method, we need to know the distance the sound traveled and the time it took. Derham observed shotgun blasts from church towers that were 20.1 km (or 20,100 meters) apart.

By timing how long it took for the sound to travel this distance, he was able to calculate the speed of sound. In his test, the time between seeing the flash and hearing the sound was 57.8 seconds.

To find the speed of sound, we use the formula:

Speed = Distance ÷ Time

Substituting the known values:

Speed = 20,100 m ÷ 57.8 s
Speed = approximately 347.75 m/s

This value is close to the accepted speed of sound in room temperature air, which is 346 m/s.