During thunder and lightning storm, an observer heard the thunder 15s after seeing the lightning move into the ground. if the air temprature was 28celcies, how far was the observer from the spot where the lightning hit
the ground? (light travels at 3.0 x 10*8m/s)
Use the temperature to get the speed of sound. It should about 350 m/s, but increases slowly with temperature.
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-speedsound.htm is one way to get the sound speed.
Light can be considered instantaneous because it is about a million times faster than sound.
Use this formula:
(time delay of sound) x (speed of sound) = distance
It will be about 5000 meters or three miles.
The light took only 17*10^-6 s to reach the observer. This justifies the instantaneous assumption.
Gjvbv
To determine the distance between the observer and the spot where the lightning hit the ground, we need to calculate the time it took for the sound to travel from the lightning to the observer. The speed of sound is approximately 343 meters per second at 20 degrees Celsius, and it varies with temperature.
First, we'll need to adjust the speed of sound for the given air temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. The speed of sound increases by approximately 0.6 meters per second for every degree Celsius increase in temperature. Therefore, the adjusted speed of sound can be calculated as follows:
Adjusted speed of sound = Speed of sound at 20°C + (Temperature difference × Temperature coefficient)
= 343 m/s + ((28°C - 20°C) × 0.6 m/s)
= 343 m/s + (8°C × 0.6 m/s)
= 343 m/s + 4.8 m/s
= 347.8 m/s (approx.)
Now that we have the adjusted speed of sound, we can calculate the distance between the observer and the lightning strike location using the given time interval of 15 seconds. The equation for calculating distance is:
Distance = Speed × Time
Here, the speed is the adjusted speed of sound, and the time is 15 seconds. Thus,
Distance = 347.8 m/s × 15 s
= 5217 m
Therefore, the observer was approximately 5217 meters away from the spot where the lightning hit the ground during the thunder and lightning storm.