Question

A politician holds a press conference that is televised live. The sound picked up by the microphone of a TV news network is broadcast via electromagnetic waves and heard by a television viewer. This viewer is seated 2.7 m from his television set. A reporter at the press conference is located 5.5 m from the politician, and the sound of the words travels directly from the celebrity's mouth, through the air, and into the reporter's ears. The reporter hears the words exactly at the same instant that the television viewer hears them. Using a value of 343 m/s for the speed of sound, determine the maximum distance between the television set and the politician. Ignore the small distance between the politician and the microphone. In addition, assume that the only delay between what the microphone picks up and the sound being emitted by the television set is that due to the travel time of the electromagnetic waves used by the network.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

Time taken by sound waves to cover distance between politician and reporter = time taken by em waves to travel distance between politician and the television viewer.

5.5 / 343 = d / 3 x 10⁸ + 2.7 / 343

d is distance between politician and television set + time taken by sound to travel distance between television and its viewer.

.0160349 = d / 3 x 10⁸ + .0078717

d / 3 x 10⁸ = .0081632

d = 2448960 m

= 2448.96 km

= 2449 km .