Practice Problem 0416
The air temperature is -10 degrees Celsius. How long will it take a sound wave to travel 2 kilometers.
(see next page for the solution)
The air temperature is -10 degrees Celsius. With this information, we can determine the speed of
sound.
v = 332 + 0.6temp
v = 332 + 0.6(10)
v = 338 m/s
The sound wave travels a total distance of 2 km. Since speed is measured in m/s, we will convert the
distance into m.
Δd = 2 km = 2000 m
Since sound waves travel at constant speed, we can use the following equation to solve for time
v=
Δd
Δt
338 =
Δt =
2000
Δt
2000
338
Δt = 5.92 seconds