Here's a breakdown:

* Speed of Light: Light travels at approximately 299,792,458 meters per second (186,282 miles per second). This is incredibly fast.

* Speed of Sound: Sound travels much slower, approximately 343 meters per second (767 miles per hour) in air at room temperature.

The difference in speed: Light travels about 880,000 times faster than sound!

What happens when a cannon fires:

1. Flash: The explosion of the cannon produces a bright flash of light that travels directly to your eyes at the speed of light.

2. Sound: The explosion also creates a sound wave that travels through the air at the much slower speed of sound.

Since the light from the flash reaches you much faster than the sound wave, you see the flash before you hear the sound. The further away the cannon is, the greater the time delay between seeing the flash and hearing the sound.