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A sinusoidal wave travels with speed 200 m/s. Its wavelength is 4.0 m. What is its frequency?

Short Answer

Expert verified
The frequency of the sinusoidal wave is 50 Hz.

Step by step solution

01

Understand the Problem

A sinusoidal wave is traveling with a velocity of 200 m/s. The wavelength is given as 4.0 m. The task here is to calculate its frequency.
02

Identify the formula

The formula to find the frequency of a wave is given by the equation \(f = \frac{v}{λ} \), where \( f \) is the frequency, \( v \) is the speed of the wave and \( λ \) is the wavelength.
03

Substitute the given values into the formula

The speed of the wave \( v \) is given as 200 m/s and the wavelength \( λ \) is given as 4.0 m. Substituting these values into the formula will give \( f = \frac{200 m/s}{4.0 m} \).
04

Solve the equation

Solving the equation will give \( f = 50 Hz \). Therefore, the frequency of the wave is 50 Hz.

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Key Concepts

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

Wave Velocity
The velocity of a wave, often denoted as 'v', is a crucial concept in understanding wave motion. It is the speed at which a wave travels through a medium, and it is usually measured in meters per second (m/s). When we're talking about sinusoidal waves—like the ones commonly seen in sound waves, light waves, or even ripples on a water surface—the wave velocity represents how fast the wave's peaks and troughs move. For example, if a wave has a high velocity, it means that the crests of the wave pass by a particular point quickly.

In the context of our exercise, the given sinusoidal wave has a velocity of 200 m/s. Imagine you are watching a wave in the ocean; this speed would be the rate at which each successive wave crest arrives at the beach. It's this measurement that is the first part of the puzzle when determining other properties of waves, such as their frequency and wavelength.
Wavelength
Wavelength is denoted by the Greek letter lambda (\( \text{λ} \)) and represents the distance between two consecutive similar points on the wave, usually chosen as two crests or two troughs, measured along the wave's direction of travel. This measurement is pivotal because it's a physical description of the wave's shape and size. In layman terms, you can think of it as the length of one complete wave cycle.

The wavelength determines the wave's physical extent and contributes significantly to the understanding of the wave's overall behavior and characteristics. For our sinusoidal wave traveling with a velocity of 200 m/s, a wavelength of 4.0 m means that each wave cycle—that is, each full wave crest to crest sequence—spans 4 meters.
Frequency Calculation
Frequency is the number of complete wave cycles, or oscillations, that pass a given point in one second. It is described in Hertz (Hz), where one Hertz is equivalent to one cycle per second. Frequency tells us how 'fast' the wave is oscillating.

To compute frequency, we use the formula \( f = \frac{v}{\lambda} \) where 'f' is frequency, 'v' is the wave velocity, and '\( \lambda \)' is the wavelength. For our exercise, substituting the given wave velocity of 200 m/s and the wavelength of 4.0 m into the formula gives us a frequency of 50 Hz. This means our wave is completing 50 cycles every second. The higher the frequency, the more waves that pass a point in a given time frame, and typically, the higher the pitch we would perceive in sound waves, or the bluer the light in the case of light waves.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

A whistle you use to call your hunting dog has a frequency of 21 kHz, but your dog is ignoring it. You suspect the whistle may not be working, but you can’t hear sounds above 20 kHz. To test it, you ask a friend to blow the whistle, then you hop on your bicycle. In which direction should you ride (toward or away from your friend) and at what minimum speed to know if the whistle is working?

A sun-like star is barely visible to naked-cye observers on earth when it is a distance of 7.0 light years, or \(6.6 \times 10^{16} \mathrm{m},\) away. The sun emits a power of \(3.8 \times 10^{28} \mathrm{W}\). Using this information, at what distance would a candle that emits a power of \(0.20 \mathrm{W}\) just be visible?

At a rock concert, the sound intensity 1.0 m in front of the bank of loudspeakers is 0.10 W/m2 .A fan is 30 m from the loudspeakers. Her eardrums have a diameter of 8.4 mm. How much sound energy is transferred to each eardrum in 1.0 second?

A sinusoidal wave traveling on a string has a period of 0.20 s, a wavelength of 32 cm, and an amplitude of 3 cm. The speed of this wave is A. 0.60 cm/s. B. 6.4 cm/s. C. 15 cm/s. D. 160 cm/s.

Sound is detected when a sound wave causes the eardrum to vibrate (see Figure 14.26 ). Typically, the diameter of the eardrum is about \(8.4 \mathrm{mm}\) in humans. When someone speaks to you in a normal tone of voice, the sound intensity at your ear is approximately \(1.0 \times 10^{-6} \mathrm{W} / \mathrm{m}^{2} .\) How much energy is delivered to your eardrum each second?

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