Question

You are fishing in a boat anchored in a bay. You notice that the current is in the eastern direction with small wave crests that are 15 meters apart, and they are gently rocking the boat once every 5 seconds. You decide to lift the anchor and begin trolling slowly to the west at 2.0 meters/second. In 1-2 sentences, explain the strategy for calculating how often the wave crests will rock the boat in this situation based on your investigation.

Answer 1

To calculate how often the wave crests will rock the boat while trolling to the west, you will need to take into account the speed of the current pushing the boat eastward, the distance between wave crests, and the speed at which you are moving westward. This will allow you to determine when the boat will cross over a wave crest and be rocked by the waves.