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Equidistance: Thunder and Lightening Part 1

If two people hear the same thunderclap simultaneously, where did the lightning strike?

  1. Suppose the two people are 9 miles apart. Plot two points (one to represent each person) and draw a segment between them. Use the segment measurement tool to measure the distance between the two points (scale: 1 Geogebra unit = 1 mile).
  2. If one person hears thunder 25 seconds after a lightning strike, map all the possible locations the lightning could have hit. Explain your reasoning.
  3. If lightning strikes and both people hear thunder after 25 seconds, where are all the possible locations the lightning could have struck. Explain your reasoning.
  4. Using your existing image, find all the possible locations where lightning might have struck if both people heard thunder after 35 seconds.
  5. Observe your solutions from step 3 and 4. Do you see a pattern? What do you conjecture about the location of lightning strikes if two people hear the thunder simultaneously? Verify your conjecture using the appropriate tool in the toolbar. Was your conjecture correct? How do you know?
  6. In dry air, thunder is seldom heard beyond 12 miles. Does this information change your answer to question 4? If so, adjust your solution to represent this situation. Explain your reasoning.
Submit your answers and screenshots of your work from each step.
7. Using the same two people who are 9 miles apart, what would it look like if one person heard the thunder after 20 seconds, but another person heard the thunder after 35 seconds? Start a new construction below and find all the possible locations the lightning could have struck. Explain your reasoning. Submit your answers and screenshots of your work from each step.