Topic: Waves

Problem 1: On December 26, 2004, a great earthquake occurred off the coast of Sumatra and triggered
immense waves (tsunami) that killed some 200,000 people. Satellites observing these waves from space
measured 800 km from one wave crest to the next and a period between waves of 1.0 hour. What was the
speed of these waves in m/s and in km/h. Does your answer help you understand why the waves caused
such devastation?

Problem 2: Sound having frequencies above the range of human hearing (about 20,000 Hz) is called
ultrasound. Waves above this frequency can be used to penetrate the body and to produce images by
reflecting from surfaces. In a typical ultrasound scan, the waves travel through body tissue with a speed of
1500 m/s. For a good, detailed image, the wavelength should be no more than 1.0 mm. What frequency
sound is required for a good scan?

Problem 3: Storms in the South Pacific can create waves that travel all the way to the California coast,
12,000 km away. How long does it take them to travel this distance if they travel at 15.0 m/s?

Problem 4: Wind gusts create ripples on the ocean that have a wavelength of 5.00 cm and propagate at 2.00
m/s. What is their frequency?

Problem 5: What is the wavelength of an earthquake that shakes you with a frequency of 10.0 Hz and gets
to another city 84.0 km away in 12.0 s?

Problem 6: Radio waves transmitted through empty space at the speed of light c by the Voyager spacecraft
have a wavelength of 0.120 m. What is their frequency?

Problem 7: Derive the wave equation for a sinusoidal wave function.

Problem 8: For two transverse waves with the same amplitude and wavelength and that travel together, find
the displacement equation for the resultant wave. Find the conditions of wave amplitude variations in terms
of the phase difference.

Problem 9: For two overlapping waves (same amplitude and wavelength) that are traveling in opposite
directions, find the expression of the resultant wave, and sketch snapshots of the resultant wave indicating
nodes and antinodes.

Problem 10: A string is stretched between two fixed supports 0.700 m apart and the tension is adjusted until
the fundamental frequency of the string is 440 Hz. What is the speed of transverse waves on the string?

Problem 11: You build a bass viol with strings of length 1.50 m between fixed points. One string, with
linear mass density, μ = 525 g/m, is tuned to a 30.0-Hz fundamental frequency. Calculate (a) the tension of
this string, and (b) the frequency and wavelength on the string of the second harmonic.

Problem 12: Two waves on one string are described by the wave functions
𝑦1 = 3.0 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (4.0𝑥 − 1.6𝑡) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦2 = 3.0 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (5.0𝑥 − 2.0𝑡)
where x and y are in centimeters and t is in seconds. Find the superposition of the waves y1 + y2 at the points
(a) 𝑥 = 1.00, 𝑡 = 1.00; and (b) 𝑥 = 1.00, 𝑡 = 0.500. Here the trigonometric functions are in radians.