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How Far Sound Travels In A Minute


However it may be with regard to the theories of sound, experience has

taught us, that it travels at about the rate of 1142 feet in a second,

or nearly thirteen miles in a minute. The method of calculating its

progress is easily made known: when a gun is discharged at a distance,

we see the fire long before we hear the sound; if, then, we know the

distance of the place, and know the time of the interval between our

first seeing the fire, and then hearing the report, this will show us

exactly the time the sound has been travelling to us. For instance, if

the gun be discharged a mile off, the moment the flash is seen I take

a watch and count the seconds till I hear the sound; the number of

seconds is the time the sound has been travelling a mile.



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