Question

A wave travels at 3 m/s and has a wavelength of 0.5 m. What is its period?

Answer 1

To find the period of a wave, you can use the relationship between wave speed (v), wavelength (λ), and frequency (f). The formula relating these quantities is:

\[
v = f \cdot \lambda
\]

We can rearrange this to find the frequency:

\[
f = \frac{v}{\lambda}
\]

Given:
- Wave speed (v) = 3 m/s
- Wavelength (λ) = 0.5 m

Substituting the values into the formula:

\[
f = \frac{3 \, \text{m/s}}{0.5 \, \text{m}} = 6 \, \text{Hz}
\]

The period (T) of a wave is the inverse of the frequency:

\[
T = \frac{1}{f}
\]

Now substituting the frequency we just calculated:

\[
T = \frac{1}{6 \, \text{Hz}} \approx 0.1667 \, \text{s}
\]

Thus, the period of the wave is approximately **0.167 seconds**.