Question

Sound produced by a thunderstrom is heard `10 s` after the lighting is seen. Calculate the approximate distance of the thunder cloud. (Given speed of sound `= 340 m//s`).

Answer 1

Lightning reaches the observer with a very large speed, i.e., with the speed of light `(3 xx 10^8 m//s)`. Thus the entire time of `10 s` between the seeing of lightning and hearing of thunderstorm is taken by the sound to travel to the observer. Hence, distance of the thunder cloud i.e., `s = vt = (340 m//s) (10 s) = 3400 m = 3.4 m`.