You are approaching Chatham Strait from the...

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Question 1 of 2066636ee928f7522a1c51915b

You are approaching Chatham Strait from the south in foggy weather. You have Coronation Island and Hazy Islands on the radar. Suddenly the radar malfunctions. You then resort to using whistle echoes to determine your distance off Coronation Island. Your stopwatch reads 16.3 seconds for the echo to be heard. How far are you off Coronation Island?

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Question 1 of 20

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🔍 Key Concepts

• Speed of sound in air in feet per second and how that converts to nautical miles per second • The fact that sound must travel to the island and back, so the measured time is for a round-trip distance • Basic distance formula: Distance = Speed × Time and then converting that distance into nautical miles

💭 Think About

• First, estimate how far sound travels in 1 second using a standard value for the speed of sound in air, then multiply by the total time measured on the stopwatch • Remember that the echo time includes the trip to the island and back, so think about how to get the one-way distance from the round-trip distance • After getting a distance in feet (or meters), carefully convert that result into nautical miles and compare it with the answer choices

✅ Before You Answer

• Be sure you are using the correct speed of sound (don’t confuse it with speed of a vessel in knots or speed of light) • Confirm that you divide by 2 to change from round-trip distance to one-way distance • Double-check your unit conversions when changing from feet (or meters) to nautical miles before matching to the closest choice

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