A trekker is positioned on a straight road between two parallel vertical cliffs,…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Sound · Sound

Problem

A trekker is positioned on a straight road between two parallel vertical cliffs, Cliff A and Cliff B. He is

x\,\text{m}

from Cliff A and

y\,\text{m}

from Cliff B. On a still morning he fires a pistol and hears two distinct echoes from the single shot. The first echo is heard

0.90\,\text{s}

after the shot and the second echo is heard

1.50\,\text{s}

after the shot. Take the speed of sound in air to be

340\,\text{m/s}

. (i) Write an equation for the total distance travelled by the sound corresponding to the first echo in terms of

x

. (ii) Write a second equation for the total distance travelled by the sound corresponding to the second echo in terms of

y

. (iii) Using the two time readings, solve for

x

and

y

. (iv) Hence determine the distance between the two cliffs.