Question

A fisherman fishing from a pier observes that the float on his line bobs up and down, taking 2.4 s to move from its highest point to its lowest point. He also estimates that the distance between adjacent wave crests is 48 m. What is the speed of the waves going past the pier?Immersive Reader

Answer 1

v = 10 m / s

Step-by-step explanation:

For this exercise we will use the relationship between the speed of a wave and its frequency and wavelength

v = λ f

the wavelength is the distance at which the wave repeats, in this case the distance between the two ridges λ = 48 m.

the frequency is the number of oscillations per unit of time, it is also the inverse of the period which is the time in a complete oscillation, in this case they give us the time of half a period, ½ T = 2.4 s

T = 4.8 s

the frequency is

f = 1 / T

f = 1 / 4.8

f = 0.2083 Hz

let's calculate

v = 0.2083 48

v = 10 m / s