Problema Solution
An earthquake emits a primary wave and a secondary wave. Near the surface of the Earth the primary wave travels at about 5 miles per second, and the secondary wave travels at about 3 miles per second. From the time lag between the two waves arriving at a given seismic station, it is possible to estimate the distance to the quake. Suppose a station measures a time difference of 12 seconds between the arrival of the two waves. How far is the earthquake from the station?
Answer provided by our tutors
Let 't' represent the time of the travel of the waves assuming they happen at the same time.
5t = 3*(12 + t)
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click here to see the equation solved for t
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t = 18 sec
The distance of the earthquake from the station is 5*12 = 60 miles.