An observer sitting in line of two tanks, watches the flashes of two tanks firing at each other at the same time, but he hears the sounds of two shots 2s and 3.5s after seeing the flashes. If distance between the two tanks is 510 m, find the speed of sound.

Time taken to hear the sound of tank 1 = 2 s

Time taken to hear the sound of tank 2 = 3.5 s

Time interval = 3.5 – 2 = 1.5 s

Distance between two tanks = 510 m

Velocity (V) = ?

V = Distance\over Time

= 510\over 1.5 = 340 ms^-1

Therefore, the speed of sound = 340 m s^-1 .