Question

The diagram below shows some waves traveling along a rope.

State the type of waves travelling on the rope.
Explain how you can tell. *
(2 points)

Answer 1

-- Well first of all, the waves are transverse waves. The fibers in the rope, and the hand that generates the waves, are moving up and down, but the wave is moving to the right, towards the wall. These directions are perpendicular.

-- Later on, after the waves reflect from the wall and travel back toward the hand, there are going to be standing waves on the rope. But this is probably beyond the scope of the question.