Question

vii)
Suppose you are standing on a hill watching a cannon fire a 21 gun 'salute'.
You note that there is about 3 seconds between seeing the flames and puffs
of smoke and hearing the boom'. About how far are you from the cannon.A.1/2kmB.1km C.2km D.5km E.10km​

Answer 1

Answer:

B) 1 km

Explanation:

Since there is about a difference of 3 seconds between seeing the flame and puffs of the gun and hearing the boom, we can conclude the time taken for sound to travel is 3 seconds. (As the speed of light is very fast, the time taken for it to travel is negligible)

Speed of sound = 343 m/s

Time taken for sound to travel = 3 seconds

Distance between the source of sound and you =

⇒ Speed * Time

⇒ 343 * 3

⇒ 1029 m ≈ 1 km

Hence, you are approximately 1 km far from the cannon.