Question

A hammer taps on the end of a 3.8-m-long metal bar at room temperature. A microphone at the other end of the bar picks up two pulses of sound, one that travels through the metal and one that travels through the air. The pulses are separated in time by 8.80 ms . What is the speed of sound in this metal?

Answer 1

Answer:

the speed of sound in this metal is 1668 m/s

Explanation:

given information:

x = 3.8 m

t = 8.80 ms = 0.0088 s

the speed of sound in the metal

v = x/Δt

to find the Δt of the metal, we have to calculate the interval time sound in the air

$t_{air}$ = x/$v_{air}$, $v_{air}$ = 343 m/s

so,

$t_{air}$  = 3.8/343 = 0.01108 s

Δt = $t_{air}$  - t

    = 0.011079 - 0.0088

    = 0.002279

v = x/Δt

  = 3.8/ 0.002279

  = 1668 m/s