A traveller is standing at a point on a straight road flanked by two parallel vertical cliffs. He claps loudly and hears two distinct echoes after 2.0s and 3.5s respectively. The air temperature is such that the speed of sound may be taken as 340ms−1.
(a) Write the relation connecting the distance of a reflecting surface with the measured echo time.
(b) Calculate the distance of the nearer cliff from the traveller.
(c) Calculate the distance of the farther cliff from the traveller and hence determine the separation between the two cliffs.