Question

Water waves in a shallow dish are $6cm$ long. At one point, the water moves up and down at a rate of $4.8$ oscillations/s. What is the speed of the water waves?

• A. $0.288m/s$
• B. $0.3m/s$
• C. $1.25m/s$
• D. $1.2m/s$

Answer 1

The correct option is A $0.288m/s$

The relationship between the velocity of the wave, its wavelength and frequency is given by the formula

$Wavelength\lambda =\frac{Speed\left(v\right)}{Frequency\left(\nu \right)}$,

where, $v$ - velocity of the wave
$\lambda$ - wavelength of the wave
$f$ - frequency of the wave.

In the question it is given that the frequency is 4.8 Hz and the wavelength is 6.0 cm, that is, 0.06 meters.

The velocity of the sound is calculated as follows.

$v=f\times \lambda =4.8Hz\times 0.06m=0.288m/s$

Hence, the speed of the water wave is 0.288 m/s.