Question

A fisherman in a row boat notices that one wave crest passes his fishing line every 5 s. He estimates the distance between the crests to be 1.5 m and estimates that the crests of the waves are 0.5 m above the troughs. Using this data, determine the amplitude and speed of the waves.

Answer 1

The distance between the two consecutive crest is known as the wavelength of the wave according to given question the wavelength $\lambda =1.5m$
time period of the wave T = 5 s

the relation between the wavelength, velocity of wave and time period is given as $v=\frac{\lambda }{T}=\frac{1.5}{5}=0.3m/s$
As the the perpendicular distance between crest and trough is 0.5 m the amplitude of the wave $A=\frac{0.5}{2}=0.25m$