Question

Click reset. select transverse waves. select lights on and show grid and turn off show rulers. set the frequency to 0.50 hz. a single cycle is the time it takes the hand to move up, move down, and then back up to the starting position. click play, and then click pause after exactly one cycle. (this may take a few tries.) how long does one cycle take? this is the period (t) of the wave. frequency (f) is equal to 1 divided by the period: f = . frequency is measured in hertz (hz), where 1 hz = 1 cycle/sec. what is the frequency of this wave? answers

Answer 1

A) how long does one cycle take?
The time it takes the wave to complete one cycle is called period (T), and it is equal to the reciprocal of the frequency:
$T= \frac{1}{f}$
In our problem, since the frequency is $f=0.50 Hz$, the period is
$T= \frac{1}{f}= \frac{1}{0.50 Hz}=2 s$

b) The frequency is the number of cycles per second. Its value is already given by the problem (0.50 Hz), however it can be also found as the reciprocal of the period:
$f= \frac{1}{T}= \frac{1}{2s}=0.50 s^{-1} = 0.50 Hz$