Modeling Waves Quick Check

Question

4 of 44 of 4 Items

Question
A student moves the end of a compressed coiled spring up and down to demonstrate wave motion. She then moves the compressed coiled spring faster but keeps everything else the same. Which characteristic will increase?(1 point)
Responses

frequency
frequency

wavelength
wavelength

amplitude
amplitude

crest
crest
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Answer 1

The correct answer is frequency. When the student moves the compressed coiled spring faster, the frequency of the wave will increase. Frequency refers to the number of complete cycles of the wave that pass a given point per unit of time. By moving the spring faster, the student is causing more cycles to pass the point in the same amount of time, thus increasing the frequency. The other characteristics (wavelength, amplitude, and crest) do not change when the student moves the spring faster while keeping everything else the same.