Our high school student is thinking about waves on a string, and is confused onc

Question

Our high school student is thinking about waves on a string, and is confused once again. He knows the formula for wave velocity: wave velocity equals wavelength times frequency. What he's confused about is the interpretation of that equation.

Your job in this essay is to give that interpretation. Your answer should include two things: 1. A physical reason why the wave velocity should depend solely on the string itself, not on (say) how quickly someone moves one end of the string up and down to create the waves. 2. A verbal reason why (for example) the wavelength must get shorter if the person making the waves moves his hand up and down more quickly (you can't just point to the wave velocity equation and say "as frequency goes up, wavelength must go down").

Explanation / Answer

1.

A wave if the Disturbance in the particls of the medium

As the disturbance is transferred through the string,

as such velocity through the string is V ^2 = T/u

where u is linear mass density

Tension in the string is produced which produes restoring force to create the waves,

hence how frequently the string is moved up and down does not come into play

-------------------------------------------------------------------

2.

the wave speed remains constant through the string. as we increase frequency ,

he distance wave has to travel each time period must decrease so that wave could up/down more frequently

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse O
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.