Simple Wave Speed
A fisherman notices that wave crests pass the bow of his stationary boat every 2.3 s. He measures the distance between two adjacent crests to be 5.2 m. How fast are the waves traveling?
2.26 m/s
2.26 m/s
Approach
The time given is the period, T, of the waves and the distance between adjacent wave crests is the wavelength, λ.
Solution
The speed is v = λf = λ/T = 5.2/2.3 = 2.26 m/s.