Question

Two fans are watching a baseball game from different positions. One fan is located directly behind home plate, 18.3 m from the batter. The other fan is located in the centerfield bleachers, 127 m from the batter. Both fans observe the batter strike the ball at the same time (because the speed of light is about a million times faster than that of sound), but the fan behind home plate hears the sound first. What is the time difference between hearing the sound at the two locations?

Answer 1

Answer:

• 0.317 s

Explanation:

distance of fan A = 18.3 m

distance of fan B = 127 m

speed of sound (s) = 343 m/s

What is the time difference between hearing the sound at the two locations?

time (T) = distance / speed

• time for sound to reach fan A = 18.3 / 343 = 0.053 s

• time it takes for sound to reach fan B = 127 / 343 = 0.370 s
• time difference = 0.370 - 0.053 = 0.317 s