Question

As your hand moves back and forth to generate longitudinal pulses in a spiral spring, your hand completes 3.19 back-and-forth cycles every 8.46 s. The velocity of the pulse in the spring is 0.6 cm/s. What is the wavelength

Answer 1

Explanation:

Since, it is given that one hand completes 3.19 vibrations in 8.46 sec. Therefore, in one second the number of vibrations will be as follows.

              $\frac{3.19}{8.46}$

                = 0.377 vibrations

Hence,  frequency (f) = 0.38 Hz

Now, formula to calculate the speed is as follows.

               v = $f \times \lambda$

or,        $\lambda = \frac{v}{f}$                  

                = $\frac{0.6 cm/s}{0.38}$

                = 1.57 cm

Thus, we can conclude that the wavelength is 1.57 cm.