Physics Department

Faculty of Science
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

SSCP 1163 Tutorial 2 2017/18-2

Chapter 15

1. A cord of mass 0.65 kg is stretched between two supports 8.0 m apart. If the tension in the cord is 140
N, how long will it take a pulse to travel from one support to the other? [Ans: 0.19 s]

2. A 0.40-kg cord is stretched between two supports, 7.8 m apart. When one support is struck by a
hammer, a transverse wave travels down the cord and reaches the other support in 0.85 s. What is the
tension in the cord? [Ans: 4.3 N]

3. A sailor strikes the side of his ship just below the surface of the sea. He hears the echo of the wave
reflected from the ocean floor directly below 2.4 s later. How deep is the ocean at this point?
[Ans: 2.0 x 103 m]

4. The intensity of an earthquake wave passing through the Earth is measured to be 3.0  106 J/m2 at a
distance of 48 km from the source.
(a) What was its intensity when it passed a point only 1.0 km from the source?
(b) At what rate did energy pass through an area of at 1.0 km?
[Ans: (a) 6.9  109 W/ m2 (b) 1.4  1010 W]

5. A transverse wave on a wire is given by where D and x in

meters and t in seconds.
(a) Write an expression for a wave with the same amplitude, wavelength and frequency in the
opposite direction.
(b) For both waves, what is the:
(i) speed (ii) wavelength (iii) frequency (iv) velocity
[Ans: (a)
(b) (i) 48 m/s (ii) 28.6 m (iii) 5.4 Hz (iv) 154.5 m/s]

6. A transverse wave on a cord is given by , where D and x are in m

and t is in seconds. At t=0.20 s, what are the displacement and velocity of the point on the cord
where x= 0.60 m? [Ans: (a) -0.11 m (b) -0.65 m/s]

7. A cord has two sections with linear densities of 0.10 kg/m and0.20 kg/m, Fig. 1. An incident wave,
given by where x is in meters and t in seconds, travels
along the lighter cord.
(a) What is the wavelength on the lighter section of the cord?
(b) What is the tension in the cord?
(c) What is the wavelength when the wave travels on the heavier section?

Figure 1
[Ans: (a) 0.84 m (b) 0.26 N (c) 0.59 m]

Credit: Physics for scientists & Engineers with modern physics – Giancoli
@RZFeb19
8. The velocity of waves on a string is If the frequency of standing waves is 445 Hz, how far apart are
the two adjacent nodes?
[Ans: 0.11 m]

9. If two successive harmonics of a vibrating string are 240 Hz and 320 Hz, what is the frequency of the
fundamental?
[Ans: 80 Hz]

10. The displacement of a transverse wave traveling on a string is represented by

where and x are in cm and t in s.
(a) Find an equation that represents a wave which, when traveling in the opposite direction, will
produce a standing wave when added to this one.
(b) What is the equation describing the standing wave?

[Ans: (a) (b) ]

11. An earthquake P wave traveling strikes a boundary within the Earth between two kinds of material. If
it approaches the boundary at an incident angle of 52° and the angle of refraction is 31°, what is the
speed in the second medium?
[Ans: 5.2 km/s]

Credit: Physics for scientists & Engineers with modern physics – Giancoli
@RZFeb19