Physics- Velocity

Question

1. While at a track meet, you notice a time delay between when you see the starter’s pistol fire and when you hear it. If that delay is 0.4 seconds, how far away are you? Draw a picture of the situation.

Answer 1

The time delay is discernible because you see the runner start and then hear the wound 0.4 seconds later.

Since the speed of sound is constant at about 330 m/s in air, we can use d = vt, there d is the distance desired, v is the speed of sound and t is the time delay.

Plugging in we get d = 330 (0.4) = 132 m.