A seismometer at a geological monitoring station detects the primary longitudinal wave (P-wave) originating from an undersea earthquake.
The P-wave travels through the Earth's crust at a constant speed of 5.8 km/s.
The monitoring station records the arrival of the P-wave exactly 14.5 s after the rupture occurred at the focus.
Calculate the distance, in kilometres, from the monitoring station to the focus of the earthquake.
Use the equation:
distance=speed×time \text{distance} = \text{speed} \times \text{time} distance=speed×time64 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Physics 4.1 Wave properties. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.