Asked by susan

Two sinusoidal waves travel in the same direction and have the same frequency. Their amplitudes are Y1 and Y2. The smallest possible amplitude of the resultant wave is:
a) Y1 + Y2 and occurs if they are 180 degrees out of phase
b)[Y1 - Y2] and occurs if the are 180 degrees out of phase
c) Y1 + Y2 and occurs if they are in phase
d) [y1-Y2] and occurs if they are in phase
e) [Y1-Y2] and occurs if they are 90 out of phase

My thoughts:
All the explainations of resultants in my book for waves show Y1+Y2=Resultant for the theory of superposition. So I think then to get the smallest wave it would be A. Y1 + Y2 if they are 180 degrees out of phase.

The displacement of a string is given by
y(x,t)=Ysin(Kx + wt)
speed of the wave is
a)2pik/w
b)w/K
c)wk
d)2pi/k
e)k/2pi

Work:
v=lamba*f
k=2pi/lambda
w=2pi/T
v=2pi/lambda * 2pi/(1/f)
v=w/k
so I choose b


Help is appreciated :)

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