Question

Short pulses of high frequency sound are sent out from a boat and the echo from a shoal of fish is detected 0.2 seconds later, sound waves travel through water at 1600m/s how do you calculate the distance which the shoal of fish are from the boat?

Answer 1

To calculate the distance between the boat and the shoal of fish, we can use the equation:

Distance = (Speed of Sound * Time) / 2

where:

• Speed of Sound is the speed at which sound waves travel through water, given as 1600 m/s.
• Time is the time taken for the sound pulse to travel to the fish and back, given as 0.2 seconds.

Let's plug in the values and calculate the distance:

Distance = (1600 m/s * 0.2 s) / 2 Distance = (320 m) / 2 Distance = 160 meters

So, the shoal of fish is approximately 160 meters away from the boat.