Question

You are standing on the beach counting waves. You use the pier to estimate that there is 5 m between wave crests and you measure that a wave takes 2 seconds to pass your location. What is the speed of the wave?

Answer 1

2.5 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

In this problem, we know:

`\lambda = 5m` is the wavelength of the wave (distance between two successive crests)

`T = 2 s` is the period of the wave (the time it takes a wave to pass the location)

From the period, we can find the frequency of the wave:

`f=(1)/(T)=(1)/(2s)=0.5 Hz`

And now we can find the speed of the wave by using the following equation:

`v=f \lambda=(0.5 Hz)(5 m)=2.5 m/s`