TUTORIAL 3 WAVES (PHY250)

Sept 2013
1. Standing waves are produced in a rubber tube 12 m long. If the tube vibrates in 5
segments, find the wavelength of the waves.

2. A transverse wave travels at 200 ms-1 along the x-axis. If the frequency of the periodic
vibrations of the wave is 440 Hz, calculate its wavelength.

3. Name two types of mechanical wave

4. The equation for a particular standing wave on a string is

y  0.15 (sin 5x cos 300t) m
Determine the
(i) Amplitude of vibration at the antinode
(ii) Wavelength
(iii) Distance between nodes

Oct 2012
5. A wave traveling at 5 x 104 m/s has wavelength of 25 m. What is the frequency of the
wave?

6. A travelling wave on a string obeys the following equation y = 2.7 x 10-4 sin (12x-
500t)m for x in meters and t in seconds.
(i) Write the equation for velocity.
(ii) Write the equation for acceleration at x = 20 cm
(iii) What is the displacement of this point (x = 20 cm) when it is 4 s?

7. FM radio waves are transverse electromagnetic waves travelling at 3.0 x 108 ms-1. Hot
FM is broadcasted at frequency 89.3 MHz. What is its wavelength? (Ans: 3.36)

8. A progressive transverse wave is oscillating with a frequency of 60 Hz, amplitude 3

cm and wavelength 0.08 m. At t = 0 s, the displacement y = 2 cm. The wave travel to -
x direction. Determine
(i) the period of oscillation
(ii) the angular frequency, and
(iii) the wave number.
(iv) Write an equation to represent displacement y with time t. (Ans: 0.017 s, 120
π rad/s, 78.54 rad/m)
9. A certain transverse wave is described by:

 x t 
y ( x, t )  6.5 sin 2   m
 280 0.036 

Determine the following properties of the waves.

(i) Amplitude.
(ii) Wavelength.
(iii) Frequency.
(iv) Speed of propagation. (Ans: λ = 280 m, f = 27.78 Hz, v = 7778.4 m/s)

10. A transverse wave is described by

y  0.005 sin 180t  x

Where x and y are expressed in metres and t is the time in seconds.

(i) In which direction is the wave travelling?

(ii) What is the amplitude of the wave?
(iii) What is the wavelength of the wave?
(iv) What is the period of the wave?
(v) What is the transverse displacement and particle velocity of the wave at x =
0.70 m and t = 0.012 s?

11. An open-ended pipe has a fundamental resonant frequency of 8.0 kHz. If the speed of
air is 343 ms-1, find the length of the pipe. (Ans: 0.021 m)

12. A progressive transverse wave is given as:

y (x,t) = 15 cos π (3x – 4t)
where displacement, y is measured in cm and time, t in seconds. Determine:

(i) the wavelength

(ii) the frequency, and
(iii) the displacement and particle velocity at a point where x = 0.2 m at t = 0.

13. A progressive wave is represented by

 15  x 
y  0.2 sin 100  t   mm
 13 
Where y is in mm, x is the distance from a fixed point o in meter and t is in second.
Find:
(i) the frequency
(ii) the wavelength
(iii) the speed of the wave
 (iv) write down an equation for a wave that has twice the frequency, twice the
amplitude (compared to the above wave) and is moving in opposite direction in
the same medium.

14. A progressive wave moving in the positive x-direction has amplitude of 3 cm, a speed
of 40 cm/s and a wavelength of 40 cm.
(i) Write the general equation for the progressive wave in terms of
displacement, y, distance, x and time, t
(ii) Calculate the displacement due to the wave at x = 10 cm and t = 20s.

15. A transverse wave is represented by the following equation

 x 
y  0.1 sin 2  1000 t  m
 0.34 
What is the phase difference between two points at a distance 0.18 m apart parallel to
the direction of propagation of the wave? (Ans: 1.06 π rad)

16. A wave causes a displacement, y is given by equation of y = 8 sin (25t + 8x) where y
in meter, x is in cm and t is in second. Calculate what is the velocity of the oscillator
at x = 0.12 cm and t = 0.1 s. (Ans : 200 m/s)

17. A wave propagates with velocity 100 mm/s. If the wavelength is 15 mm, what its
frequency? (Ans:6.7 Hz)

18. Water waves moves with velocity 2 m/s and its vibrating frequency is 50 Hz. What is
the phase difference between two points in the waves that are separated at a distance
of 0.3 m? (Ans : 15 π rad)

19. A sound wave with frequency 400 Hz is propagating in air at a velocity of 320 m/s.
Find the phase difference between two points separated at distance of 0.2 m from each
other in the direction of propagation of the wave. (π/2 rad)

20. A wave moves with constant velocity and frequency. Two particles in the waves are
separated at a distance of 1.0 m. The phase difference between two particles is 4π/3
rad. If the frequency of the waves is 100 Hz, what is the velocity of the waves? (150
m/s)

21. A rope of mass 0.65 kg is stretched between two supports 30 m apart. If the tension in
the rope is 120 N, how long will it take a pulse to travel from one support to the
other? (0.4 s)
22. A 0.40 kg rope is stretched between two supports 4.8 m apart. When one support is
struck by a hammer, a transverse wave travels down the rope and reaches the other
support in 0.85 s. What is the tension in the rope? (2.7 N)

23. The average person can hear sound waves ranging in frequency from about 20 Hz to
20000 Hz. Determine the wavelength at these limits, taking the speed of sound to be
340 m/s. (17 m, 0.017 m)

24. A radio station broadcasts at 760 kHz. The speed of radio waves is 3 x 108 m/s. What
is the wavelength? (395 m)

25. When driven by a 120 Hz vibrator, a string has transverse waves of 31 cm wavelength
travelling along it.
(i) What is the speed of the waves on the string?
(ii) If the tension in the string is 1.2 N, what is the mass of 50 cm of the string?
(37.2 m/s, 0.43 g)

26. A wire 0.5 m long and with a mass per unit length of 0.0001 kg/m vibrates under a
tension 4N. Find the fundamental frequency. (200 Hz)

27. One end of a rubber tube that is 5.0 m long has a mass to length ratio of 0.30 kg/m is
fastened to a fixed support. At the other end, a tension of 100 N is applied. If a
transverse blow is struck at one end of the tube, how long does it take to reach the
other end? (0.27 s)

28. From question 27, what frequency of vibration must be applied to the tube to produce
a standing wave with four segments in the length of the tube? (This frequency is
called the fourth harmonic frequency) (37.2 m/s, 0.43 g)

29. Standing waves are produced in a rubber tube 12 m long. If the tube vibrates in five
segments and the velocity of the wave is 20 m/s, what is the (a) wavelength of the
waves, (b) the frequency of the waves? (4.8 m, 4.17 Hz)

30. A piano string is 1.10 m long and has a mass of 9.00 g.

(i) How much tension must the string be under if it is to vibrate at a fundamental
frequency of 131 Hz?
(ii) What are the frequencies of the first four harmonics? (679.6 N, 262 Hz, 393 Hz,
524 Hz)

31. If a violin string vibrates at 440 Hz as its fundamental frequency, what are the
frequencies of the first four harmonics? (440 Hz, 880 Hz, 1320 Hz, 1760 Hz)