131k views
4 votes
What is the period of a water wave if 4.0
complete waves pass a fixed point in 10. seconds?

1 Answer

4 votes
Use your units . . . "period" is time, so you know that you have to
set up your fraction with time in the numerator.

10 seconds / 4 waves =

(10/4) sec/wave = 2.5 seconds per wave.
______________________________________

Notice how the first answer set it up exactly backwards.
He would have seen his mistake immediately if he had
kept the units.

He started out by saying . . . . P = N / t

Keeping the units, P = (waves) / (second)

The answer will have units of "waves per second" .

That's frequency, not period.
User Yauhen Sampir
by
7.2k points

No related questions found