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?

Respuesta :

Answer:

2.5 m/s

Explanation:

In this problem, we know:

[tex]\lambda = 5m[/tex] is the wavelength of the wave (distance between two successive crests)

[tex]T = 2 s[/tex] 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:

[tex]f=\frac{1}{T}=\frac{1}{2s}=0.5 Hz[/tex]

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

[tex]v=f \lambda=(0.5 Hz)(5 m)=2.5 m/s[/tex]