A hammer strikes one end of a thick iron rail of length 5.83 m. A microphone loc

Question

A hammer strikes one end of a thick iron rail of length 5.83 m. A microphone located at the opposite end of the rail detects two pulses of sound, one that travels through the air and a longitudinal wave that travels through the rail. (The speeds of sound in air and in iron are 343 m/s and 5950 m/s, respectively.)

(a) Which pulse reaches the microphone first?

the pulse traveling through the iron railthe pulse traveling through the air
(b) Find the separation in time between the arrivals of the two pulses.  ___s

Explanation / Answer

a) The propagation speed of sound in iron is larger than the propagation speed in air so the pulse traveling through iron bar arrives first.

b) Given
length of rail L = 5.83 m
Speed of sound in air is v_air = 343 m/s
speed of sound in iron v_iron = 5950 m/s
separation in time between the arrivals of the two pulses
separation in time = L / v_air - L / v-iron
= 0.016 seconds

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