Question

Echolocation relies on the timing of echoes returning from distant objects. Imagine that a bat in air sends out a signal, and then hears the echo after the signal bounces off of an insect.

(a) If the bat can determine the arrival time of a sound with a precision of 1 ms, how precisely can it measure the distance to an object?

(b) How far away is the target if the time between emitting and receiving the signal is 55 ms?

Answer 1

Speed of sound- v- 343 m/s Time of arrival t 1 ms-0.001 s since, 1 ms 0.001s This is the time taken by sound wave from bat to object and, it retums from the object to bat So, the distance traveled by sound wave in this time interval, d- 343- (0.001 s)0.343 m

The sound going toward the object di di Reflected sound

d-(3430.001s) - 0.343 m So, the distance of the object from the bat would be half of the distance traveled by wave. 0.343 m d10.1715mAns This is precision for distance. Again, we find the distance traveled by sound in time t = 55 m s = 0.055 s d (343 ) ( 0.055s) d - 18.865 m Distance of target- dtarge d 18.865 m-9.4325 m Ares