Question

A fisherman sees his boat moving up and down, owing to waves on the water. It takes 2.5 s for the boat to travel from its highest to lowest point, a distance of 0.62 m. The fisherman sees that the wave crests are spaced 6 m apart. How fast are the waves traveling?

Answer 1

Answer:

The waves are traveling in a speed of

v=1.20 m/s

Explanation:

The fisherman see a wave at 6m apart so that's the wavelength

$L=6m$

Now the period is the time between two successive waves so

$t=2*2.5s=5s$

The velocity of the waves is describe by:

$v=f*L$

$f=\frac{1}{t}=\frac{1}{5s}=20s^{-1}$

$v=0.20s^{-1}*6m$

$v=1.20 \frac{m}{s}$