When speed of sound is not negligible

AI Thread Summary
The problem involves calculating the depth of a well based on the time it takes for a stone to fall and the sound of the splash to return. The total time of 2.40 seconds includes both the fall time of the stone and the time for sound to travel back up. Using the equations of motion and the speed of sound, the relationship between the distances traveled by the stone and the sound is established. The quadratic formula is applied to find the fall time, leading to a logical solution of 2.32 seconds for the stone's descent. Ultimately, the calculated depth of the well is approximately 26.4 meters.
OpticalSuit
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Homework Statement



A stone is dropped from rest at the opening of a well, 2.40s later a splash is heard. how deep is the well?
given that speed of sound is 336m/s.

Homework Equations



xf=xi+vit+1/2at2

The Attempt at a Solution


What does one do to account for the time it takes for the sound to bounce back?!?
 
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OpticalSuit said:

Homework Statement



A stone is dropped from rest at the opening of a well, 2.40s later a splash is heard. how deep is the well?
given that speed of sound is 336m/s.

Homework Equations



xf=xi+vit+1/2at2

The Attempt at a Solution


What does one do to account for the time it takes for the sound to bounce back?!?

If the well has a depth d, what is the time for the sound to come out again (as a function of d)

Add this to the time the rock takes to fall to this depth, and the outcome should be 2.4s
This will allow you to find d.
 
thanx for the reply but i figured out the problem in the end
here is what i wrote:
The sound is heard after 2.40 seconds and sound travels 336m/s. And we know the acceleration due to gravity is -9.8m/s^2. The distance the rock travels is equal to the distance sound traveled x1=x2. And the time the rock took to hit the water added to the time the sound came up is equal to 2.40 s t1+t2=2.40s.
We must solve for one of the times in order to find the distance.
The distance equation for the rock is x1=1/2gt^2 since the intial velocity and distance is 0. For sound we have x2=vt. Therefor 1/2gt1^2=vt2, now we bring vt2 over to get (1/2)gt1^2-vt2=0. Since we know t1+t2=2.40s, therefore t2=2.40s-t1. Plugging that in gives us ½(-9.8)t1^2-(336)(2.40s-t1)=0 which gives us ½(-9.8)t1^2+336t1-806.4. now using the quadratic formula we can solve for t1 which gives us two values of either -2.32 or 70.9. logically we will take 2.32seconds for the rock to hit the water. Plugging that into the original distance equation of the rock gives us ½(9.8)(2.32)^2=-26.4 meters
 
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