Question

I have my exam monday I need some help!

A man standing on a dock is watching the waves pass by the end of the dock. He times the passage of the waves as one crest every 2.5 s. He estimates the distance between two crests to be 2.0 m. How fast are the waves moving?

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

If the passage of the waves is one crest every 2.5 seconds, then that is the frequency of the wave, f.

The distance between the 2 crests (or troughs) is the wavelength, λ.

We want the velocity of this wave. The equation that relates these 3 things is

`f=(v)/(\lambda)` and filling in:

`2.5=(v)/(2.0)` so

v = 2.5(2.0) and

v = 5.0 m/s