Students are measuring the speed of sound in air. One student stands 150 m away from a second student and claps two wooden blocks together. The second student starts a stopwatch when they see the blocks meet and stops it when they hear the sound.
They record the following times:
Explain why their measured times vary so much.
64 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Physics 4.1 Wave properties, covering 4.1.1 Waves transfer energy and information, 4.1.2 Frequency, wavelength, amplitude, period and wavefronts, 4.1.3 Longitudinal and transverse waves, 4.1.4 The wave speed equations, 4.1.5 Measuring wave velocity, and 4.1.6 Calculating depth or distance from waves. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.