Question

A fisherman notices that his boat is moving up and down periodically without any horizontal motion, owing to waves on the surface of the water. It takes a time of 2.10 s for the boat to travel from its highest point to its lowest, a total distance of 0.600 m . The fisherman sees that the wave crests are spaced a horizontal distance of 6.50 m apart.

Required:
a. How fast are the waves traveling?
b. What is the amplitude of each wave?
c. If the total vertical distance traveled by the boat were 0.30 m but the other data remained the same, how would the answers to parts (a) and (b) be affected?

Answer 1

See Explanation

Step-by-step explanation:

a) We know that;

v = λf

Where;

λ = wavelength of the wave

f = frequency of the wave

v = velocity of the wave

So;

T = 2 * 2.10 s = 4.2 s

Hence f = 1/4.2 s

f = 0.24 Hz

The wavelength = 6.5 m

Hence;

v = 6.5 m * 0.24 Hz

v = 1.56 m/s

b)The amplitude of the wave is;

A = 0.600 m/2 = 0.300 m

c) Since the wave speed does not depend on the amplitude of the wave then the answer in (a) above remains the same

Where d = 0.30 m

A = 0.30 m/2 = 0.15 m