Question
You can tell about how many miles you are from a thunderstorm by counting the seconds between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder, and then dividing by five. How many seconds would you count for a thunderstorm that is nine miles away?
Step 1
It is stated that sound takes five seconds to travel a mile. This means that the time it takes for the sound of thunder to reach us after we see the lightning is directly proportional to the distance of the thunderstorm from us. Show more…
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During a thunderstorm, you can easily estimate your distance from a lightning strike. Count the number of seconds that elapse from when you see the flash of lightning to when you hear the thunder. The rule of thumb is that 5 s clapse for each mile of distance. Verify that this rule of thumb is (approximately) correct. (One mile is $1.6 \mathrm{km}$ and light travels at a speed of $3 \times 10^{8} \mathrm{m} / \mathrm{s} .$ )
During a thunderstorm, you can casily estimate your distance from a lightning strike. Count the number of seconds that elapse from when you see the flash of lightning to when you hear the thunder. The rule of thumb is that 5 s elapse for each mile of distance. Verify that this rule of thumb is (approximately) correct. (Light travels at a $\operatorname{specd}$ of $\left.3 \times 10^{8} \mathrm{m} / \mathrm{s} .\right)$
You can estimate your distance from a lightning stroke by counting the seconds between the flash you see and the thunder you later hear. By what integer should you divide the number of seconds to get the distance in kilometers?
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