Review

Practice Questions Answer Key:

1.
A person sitting in a boat attempting to catch fish counts 18 waves passing by the boat
every minute. If the distance between crests is 1.4 m determine the speed of the
wave.

18
=
=
= 0.30

60
= = 0.30 1.4
= . /



2.











3.

Give an example of a longitudinal wave , a transverse wave, and an object that can
function as either one.

Examples of longitudinal waves:
sound waves, tsunami waves, earthquake P waves, ultra sounds, vibrations in
gas, and oscillations in spring, internal water waves, and waves in slinky

Examples of Transverse waves:
Radio waves, light waves, thermal radiation, X ray, slinky, rope, water waves.

Both:
Slinky, water waves.

Sketch the pulses 4 seconds later:

4.

Sketch the 3rd overtone of a closed end tube in the diagram below

5.

Laser sighting can be used to calculate the apparent distance to an object. A

laser in air (at 25 from the normal) detects an impurity in a sample of glass
and records the apparent depth as 2.34 m. Calculate the actual depth of the
object.

1.50
! (! )
=
! (! )

(! ) =

(! ) =

(25)1.00
1.50

! = 16.4

(25) =

(16.4) =

=
2.34
= 1.09 m

(! )!
!

1.09
=

= .



6.

Two friends are practicing dribbling basketballs at the same rate but completely out
of phase from each other.

a) A third friend standing a distance away hears nothing, Is this friend on a
nodal line or antinodal line?
Nodal
b) If the third friend determines that they are one the 2nd _____________ line and is







from part a
7m away from the one friend and 8.2m away from the second friend,
determine the wavelength of the sound.

a)
,
, .

b)
:
=
8.2 7 = 2
1.2 = 2
. =


7.
Given that the light moves at a speed of 3.00 x 108 m/s, determine the n value for the
unknown medium and find the velocity of light in that medium.



! :
! ! !
=
=
! ! !
40.9

1.00 Sin 32.0
=
!
40.9

air

= .
! !
=
! !
Sin 32.0
!
=

40.9 3.0010! /


= . /

32.0

8.

Which wave will diffract more? Explain your reasoning.

Width of aperture and wavelength contribute to the diffraction. We want a small aperture
and a large wavelength. This means diagram 1 will diffract more.


9.

A student finds an unlabeled tuning fork and attempts to determine the frequency of
the fork. They set up the lab equipment used during the resonance lab and find
lengths of tube (closed tube) that produce loud noises. The first loud noise is detected
at a length of 0.184 m

a) What is the frequency of the tuning fork if the temperature in the room is
exactly 20.0o C

b) The student measured the next loud point at a length of 0.552 m. Does this
agree with the data collected and our understanding of closed tubes standing
waves?

Bonus: What note is this tuning fork tuned to?

a)

! = 343

4 4 0.184
= =
= 0.736

1
=

b)

343
=
=
0.736

3 : = 3

3 0.736
=
=
= 0.552
4
4
.


Bonus: B flat

An ambulance is driving toward a person on the sidewalk. Typically sirens emit a frequency
of 1.300 x 103 Hz. The observer hears a frequency of 1.393 x 103 Hz. What speed is the
ambulance travelling at?

! =

=
!

= !
!
! =

! = 1
! = 343 / 1

10.

11.

1.30010!
1.39310!

= 22.90 m/s
Two tuning forks with slightly different frequencies are played at the same time and a
beat frequency of 6 is heard. The lower frequency tuning fork in inscribed with the
number 304. What is the frequency of the second turning fork?

=
304 = 6
=
Given the pressure vs. distance graph for a longitudinal wave, determine the
wavelength of the wave.

77 42 =
35 =
. =