An observer sitting in an anchored boat in a bay is watching waves go by. She notices that there is a distance of 10 meters between wave crests, and that a new wave crest passes her boat every 5 seconds. What is the wave speed?

Question

Mathematics

Isaac Obrien

19 March, 00:29

An observer sitting in an anchored boat in a bay is watching waves go by. She notices that there is a distance of 10 meters between wave crests, and that a new wave crest passes her boat every 5 seconds. What is the wave speed?

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Answers (1)

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Derrick Galvan · Answer 1

2 m / s

Step-by-step explanation:

The first thing is to know the concept of speed.

Speed is the distance traveled in a given period of time.

That is, the speed is equal to the distance between time.

v = d / t

they tell us that the distance traveled by the wave is 10 meters and that the delay time is 5 seconds, therefore:

v = 10/5

v = 2 m / s

the wave speed is 2 m / s