Two students are provided with a starting pistol, a stopwatch and a long measuring tape. The starting pistol produces a loud sound and a puff of smoke. Describe how the students use the apparatus to calculate the speed of sound.

The students stand at a distance of 200 m from each other (measured with the measuring tape). Student 1 fires the pistol, Student 2 starts the stopwatch when they see smoke from the pistol and stop it when they hear the sound from the pistol.Using the equation Speed = Distance/Time and assuming that the time for the light to reach student two is negligible, they can then calculate the speed of sound.

JM
Answered by Josh M. Physics tutor

13971 Views

See similar Physics GCSE tutors

Related Physics GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Why does a wire get hot when current flows through it?


why is it that When there is a small droplet on a phone the pixels of the screen can be seen


What is constant acceleration?


How to calculate temperature of expanded ideal gas.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

© MyTutorWeb Ltd 2013–2025

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy
Cookie Preferences