Question

Scouts at a camp shake the rope bridge they have just crossed and observe the wave crests to be 9.70 m apart. If they shake the bridge twice per second, what is the propagation speed of the waves (in m/s)?

Answer 1

Answer:

The speed of the wave is 19.4 m/s

Explanation:

The wave's crest to crest distance (the wavelength of this rope's wave) λ= 9.70 m

The bridge is shaken twice, meaning that two wavelengths passed a given point on the rope per sec. The frequency of a wave is the amount of that wave that passes a given point in a second.

this means that the frequency f = 2 Hz

The speed of a wave = fλ = 9.70 x 2 = 19.4 m/s