A public fireworks display is held in a park near a range of steep hills. An observer stands a distance of 600 m600\text{ m}600 m from where a firework explodes. The observer sees a bright flash of light and then hears a loud bang.
Explain why there is a short time delay between seeing the flash of the explosion and hearing the bang.
Shortly after hearing the first loud bang, the observer hears a second, quieter bang. Which phenomenon is responsible for this second sound?
Another observer is also standing 600 m600\text{ m}600 m away from the fireworks. She uses a stopwatch to measure the time delay between seeing the flash and hearing the first bang. Her measurements are shown in the table below:
| Measurement | Time delay / s\text{s}s |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.9 |
| 2 | 1.7 |
| 3 | 1.8 |
| 4 | 2.0 |
| 5 | 1.6 |
Use these measurements to calculate an accurate value for the speed of sound.
295 exam-style questions on CIE IGCSE Physics Sound, covering Sound. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.