Question

How far from an earthquake epicenter is a city where the difference between the P-wave and the S-wave arrival times is 5 minutes and 00 seconds?

Answer 1

The difference in speed is maybe 8 km/s

these are 5*60 = 300 seconds apart

so 8 * 300 = 2400 km

Answer 2

thanks, i got that too, my fault i should've included the options
1.7 x 10^3
9.9 x 10^3
3.5 x 10^3
4.7 10^3

Answer 3

Well, the speed of compression and shear waves depends strongly on the characteristics of the ground they are passing through. We could get answers all over those choices depending on what we chose for the difference in speed. Your text or course notes must have given you typical values to use that differ from the ones we chose.