Question

How many times a minute does a boat bob up and down on ocean waves that have a wavelength of 40.0 m and a propagation speed of 5.00 m/s?

a) 1.5 bobs/minute
b) 12 bobs/minute
c) 6 bobs/minute
d) 3 bobs/minute

Answer 1

The boat bobs up and down on ocean waves approximately 7.5 bobs per minute.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many times a minute a boat bobs up and down on ocean waves, we need to find the frequency of the waves. The frequency of a wave is equal to the propagation speed divided by the wavelength of the wave. In this case, the propagation speed is 5.00 m/s and the wavelength is 40.0 m. So the frequency is 5.00 m/s ÷ 40.0 m = 0.125 Hz.

Note that 1 Hz means one oscillation per second. To find the number of bobs per minute, we need to convert the frequency from Hz to bobs per minute. We can do this by multiplying the frequency by 60 (since there are 60 seconds in a minute): 0.125 Hz × 60 = 7.5 bobs/minute.

Therefore, the boat bobs up and down on ocean waves approximately 7.5 bobs per minute.