Question

A sound wave traveling at 343 m/s is emitted by the foghorn of a tugboat. An echo is heard 2.60 s later. How far away is the reflecting object?

Answer 1

`445.9` meters.

Explanation:

We first find the distance traveled by the sound, which is given by the equation:

`d=v*t`

• `v` is the velocity of substance

• `t` is the time taken

And so, we get:

`d=(343 \ "m")/(color(red)cancelcolor(black)"s")*2.6color(red)cancelcolor(black)"s"`

`=891.8 \ "m"`

Here is where you need to be careful, as most questions about sound traveled do this trick. You now have to divide the distance found by `2`, to get the distance of the object from the original object, because the sound created has to travel back for us to be able to hear.

So, the reflecting object is `(891.8 \ "m")/2=441.9 \ "m"` away from the fogboat.