Question

What properties of a wave do you need to calculate the wave speed?

Answer 1

The frequency and the wavelength

Step-by-step explanation:

A wave is a periodic disturbance of the space that carries energy without carrying matter.

The displacement of a wave is described by a sine/cosine function.

Moreover, there exist two types of waves:

- Mechanical waves: they are produced by the oscillations of the particles in a medium - they can only propagate through a medium (not through a vacuum)

- Electromagnetic waves: they consist of the oscillations of the electric and magnetic fields - these are the only waves able to propagate through a vacuum

The speed of a wave is given by:

`v=f \lambda`

where:

`f` is the frequency of the wave, which is the number of oscillations completed by the wave per second

`\lambda` is the wavelength of the wave, which is the distance between two consecutive crests (point of maximum amplitude) of the wave

Therefore, if we know wavelength and frequency of a wave, we can calculate its speed.