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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

2 answers

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

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