Waves Sample Problems

1. A 2.5 Hz wave has a wavelength of 0.6 m. What is its speed?
2. A wave has a frequency of 12 Hz and a wavelength of 2.4 m. What is its speed?
3. What is the period of a wave with a crest-to-trough distance of 5 m and a frequency of 20 Hz? What is its speed?
4. A standing wave is produced on a wire that is 3 m long. It has 3 nodes and 2 crests. The wave has a frequency of 5 Hz. What is its speed?
5. A standing wave is produced on a clothesline 8 m long when five birds sit on the line. No birds sit on the end. A wave with a 3 Hz frequency is created by the wind. What is the wave speed?
6. A fisherman notices that his boat is moving up and down in a periodic way because of waves on the surface of the water. It takes 4.0 sec for the boat to travel from its highest point to its lowest point, a total horizontal distance of 3.0 m. How fast are the waves traveling? He times a wave. It takes 150 sec for one wave to go from the boat to the shore. How far away is it?
7. A pulse is sent along a spring. The spring is attached to a light string at point A. The string is attached to a wall at point B.

   

   • What happens to the pulse at point A?
   • What is the orientation of the reflected wave at pointA?
   • What happens to the transmitted pulse at point B?
8. A pulse is sent along a thin rope that is attached to a thick rope. The thick rope is tied to a wall.

   

   • What happens to the pulse when it reaches point A?
   • What is the orientation of the reflected wave at point A?
   • What happens to the transmitted pulse at point B?
   • What is the orientation of the reflected pulse at point B?

Waves Notes

Waves Homework