Speed of Light and Sound

A sound has great acoustic power.
Going seven hundred seventy miles per hour.
When lightening flashes, count to five.
Across one mile the sound arrives.
Now here's a fact of which few are aware;
A sound moves faster through water than air!

But light has speed that far surpasses,
Like from our sun made up of gasses.
When light leaves there (a speed to be reckoned)
At One Eighty-Six Thousand Miles per second.

SHORT VERSION:

SOUND POWER: Seven hundred seventy miles an hour
LIGHT BECKONS: One eighty-six thousand miles per second.

Click Here to Listen -- Once the audio clip starts, minimize it so you can see the words at the same time.

Carol's Comments:   My youngest child couldn't take in the concept that the speed of light was far faster than the speed of sound. So we had a science day where we explored the topic more thoroughly. Then to cement what we had learned, we began adding this ditty to our morning recitations. Miles per second versus miles per hour is a pretty heady concept.    

As with several of our ditties, the students should learn the whole thing, but every so often, for review, you need only recite the Short Version.

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