You are creating waves in a rope by shaking your hand back and forth. Without changing the distance your hand moves, you begin to shake it faster and faster. What happens to the amplitude, frequency, period, and velocity of the wave?

Question

Physics

Joey Roth

1 July, 09:18

You are creating waves in a rope by shaking your hand back and forth. Without changing the distance your hand moves, you begin to shake it faster and faster. What happens to the amplitude, frequency, period, and velocity of the wave?

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Answers (1)

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Troy Henderson · Answer 1

Amplitude - remains the same

Frequency - increases

Period - decreases

Velocity - remains the same.

Explanation:

The amplitude of the wave remains the same since you are not changing the distance your hand moves and the amplitude of the wave depends on how much distance your hand covers while moving.

The frequency of your wave increases since now you are moving your hand more number of times in the same period i. e. your hand is moving faster in one second. So, the frequency of your wave increases.

The period is the time taken by the wave to travel a certain distance. Since your hand is now moving faster, the wave will travel faster and will take less time to cover the same distance hence, we can say that its period will decrease.

The velocity of a wave depends on the medium in which it is travelling. Your wave was previously travelling in air and the new wave is also travelling in the same medium so the velocity of the wave remains unchanged.