An anchored fishing boat used sonar to work out how deep the sea is. It sends out a Ping of sound and detects the echo 2 seconds later
How deep is the water??

This is easy if you know the speed of sound through water. That speed depends on the temperature of the water, but in the range of temperatures in which you'd want to be out fishing, it's around 1,480 meters per second.
So, in 2 seconds, sound travels (2 x 1,480) = 2,960 meters, in water.
But the sound has to go down and back up before the boat hears it, so the actual depth of the water is only half of that distance.
1/2 of 2,960 meters = 1,480 meters deep

Answered by AL2006 | 2024-06-10

The depth of the water is calculated by using the round trip time of the sound pulse. Given a round trip time of 2 seconds and the speed of sound in water as approximately 1,500 meters per second, the depth of the water amounts to 1,500 meters. This is because the sound travels to the seabed and back in that total time.
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Answered by AL2006 | 2024-10-01