1. Draw and lable a diagram of both a transverse wave and a longitudinal wave. The diagram

should include such things as wavelength, amplitude, crest, through, compression,

decompression, ect...

2. Define the following wave characteristics. With each definition also include a well labled

diagram.

Reflection / Interference / Standing wave / Refraction / Diffraction

3. Explain the difference between the following pairs.

transverse wave / longitudinal wave

constructive interference / destructive interference

angle of incidence / angle of reflection

mechanical wave / electromagnetic wave

node / anti-node

wave / pulse

crests / troughs

period/ frequency

incident pulse / reflected pulse

4. What is meant by the principle of superposition of waves?

5. Rhonda sends a pulse along a rope. How does the position of a point on the rope, before the

pulse comes, compare to the position after the pulse has passed?

6. Suppose you produce a transverse wave by shaking one end of a spring back and forth. How

does the frequency of your hand compare with the frequency of the wave?

7. Waves are sent along a spring of fixed length.

a) Can the speed of the waves in the spring be changed? Explain.

b) Can the frequency of a wave in the spring be changed? Explain.

8. What is the relationship between the amplitude of a wave and the energy carried?

9. When two waves interfere, is there a loss of energy in the system? Explain.

10. You repeatedly dip your finger into a sink full of water to make circular waves. Assuming

your mother doesn’t tell you to wash the dishes and stop playing, what happens to the

wavelength as you move your finger faster?

11. What happens to the period of a wave as the frequency increases?

12. What happens to the wavelength of a wave as the frequency increases?

13. The Sears Building in Chicago sways back and forth with a frequency of about 0.1 Hz. What

is the period of vibration? [10 sec]

14. A sound wave is produced by a clock chime 515 m away is heard 1.5 s later.

a) What is the speed of sound in air? [343 m/s]

b) The sound wave has a frequency of 436 Hz. What is its period? [2.3 x 10-3 sec]

c) What is its wavelength? [0.8 m]

15. Find the wave length of the following waves

a) A radio wave with a frequency of 99.5 MHz. [3.0 m]

b) Yellow light with a frequency of 5 x 1014 Hz. [6 x 10-7 m]

c) A sound with a frequency of 261 Hz travelling through water at a speed of 1435m/s.

[5.5 m]

d) The radio waves for K-Rock 105.5 broadcasting on a frequency of 105.5 MHz

[2.84 m]

e) The radio waves for CHTN broadcasting on a frequency of 720 kHz [417 m]

16. A typical light wave has a wavelength of 580 nm.

a) What is the wavelength of the light in meters? [580 x 10-9 m]

b) What is the frequency of the wave? [5.2 x 1014 Hz]

17. An ocean wave has a length of 10 m. A wave passes by a fixed point every 2 seconds. What

is the speed of the wave? [5 m/s]

18. Water waves in a shallow dish are 6 cm long. At one point, the water wave oscillates up and

down at a rate of 4.8 oscillations per second.

a) What is the speed of the water wave? [0.3 m/s]

b) What is the period of the water wave? [0.2 sec]

19. Water waves in a lake travel 4.4 m in 1.8 s. The period of oscillation is 1.2 s.

a) What is the speed of the water wave? [2.4 m/s]

b) What is the wavelength? [2.9 m]

20. A hiker shouts towards a vertical cliff 685 m away. The echo is heard 4.00 s later.

a) What is the speed of sound in air? [343 m/s]

b) The wavelength of the sound is 0.75m. What is its frequency? [460 Hz]

c) What is the period of the wave? [2.2 x 10-3 s]

21. A sonar signal of frequency is 1.0 x 106 Hz has a wavelength of 1.5 mm in water.

a) What is the speed of the signal in water? [1500 m/s]

b) What is its period in air? [1 x 10-6 s]

22. The speed of sound in water is 1498 m/s. A sonar signal is sent from a ship at a point just

below the water surface and 1.8 s later the reflected signal is detected. How deep is the ocean

beneath the ship? [1348 m]

23. The human ear detects sounds with frequencies of between 20 Hz and 16 Hz. If the speed of

sound in air is 330 m/s. Find the largest and smallest wavelengths the ear can detect. [17 m

up to 21 m]

24. A group of swimmers is resting in the sun on an off-shore raft. They estimate that 3.0 m

separates a trough and an adjacent crest of surface waves on the lake. They sound 14 crests

that pass by the raft in 20 s. How fast are the waves moving? [4.2 m/s]

25. A sound wave of wavelength 0.70 m and velocity 330 m/s is produced for 0.50 s.

a) What is the frequency of the wave? [470 Hz]

b) How many complete waves are emitted in this time interval? [240 waves]

c) After 0.50 s, how far is the front wave from the source of the sound? [170 m]

26. The time needed for a water wave to change from the equilibrium level to the crest is 0.18 s.

a) What fraction of a wavelength is this? [1/4]

b) What is the period of the wave? [0.72 s]

c) What is the frequency of the wave? [1.4 Hz]

27. The wave speed in a guitar string is 265 m/s. The length of the string is 63 cm. You pluck

the center of the string by pulling it up and letting go. Pulses move in both directions and are

reflected off the ends of the string.

a) How long does it take for the pulse to move to the string end and return to the center?

[0.0024 s]

b) When the pulses return, is the string above or below its resting location? [below]

c) If you plucked the string 15 cm from one end of the string, where would the two pulses

meet? [15 cm from other end]