Question

You are at a pool party and notice that 2 waves pass by a floating ball in 4 seconds. If the distance between each wave crest is 2 meters, what is the speed of the waves?

Note: wave speed (m/s) = Frequency (Hz) x Wavelength (m)

To calculate Frequency=Number of waves/Time

(1 point)
Responses

1 m/s
1 m/s

6 m/s
6 m/s

2 m/s
2 m/s

1.5 m/s

Answer 1

explain

Answer 2

To find the speed of the waves, we can follow the provided formula:

\[
\text{wave speed (m/s)} = \text{Frequency (Hz)} \times \text{Wavelength (m)}
\]

1. **Calculate the Frequency**:
- You observed that 2 waves pass by in 4 seconds. Therefore, the frequency (f) can be calculated as:
\[
f = \frac{\text{Number of waves}}{\text{Time}} = \frac{2 \text{ waves}}{4 \text{ seconds}} = 0.5 \text{ Hz}
\]

2. **Determine the Wavelength**:
- The distance between each wave crest (wavelength, λ) is given as 2 meters.

3. **Calculate the Wave Speed**:
- Now, substituting the frequency and wavelength into the wave speed formula:
\[
\text{wave speed} = f \times \lambda = 0.5 \text{ Hz} \times 2 \text{ m} = 1 \text{ m/s}
\]

Thus, the speed of the waves is 1 m/s.

The correct response is:
**1 m/s**