Multiple choice general knowledge science & technology

You are sitting in a baseball game in bleachers far from the field. You see the batter hit the ball and then you hear the crack of the bat. Why the delay?

  1. The sound has to travel through a lot of material (all the people in the stadium) before it reaches your ear.

  2. Light travels almost one million times faster than sound.

  3. Your brain anticipates what is going to happen visually, so you see the act a split second before it actually happens.

  4. You are too far away to hear the actual sound of the bat hitting the ball. What you hear is the echo of the actual sound.

  5. I don't know
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Light travels at approximately 300,000 kilometers per second, while sound travels at only 343 meters per second in air. This means light is nearly one million times faster than sound. When you're far from the action, the light arrives almost instantly, but the sound takes noticeable time to travel the same distance.

Keep practicing — related questions