Homework 1 PHYS 212 Dr.

Amir

7.(II) A 0.40-kg cord is stretched between two supports, 7.8 m apart. When one support is struck
by a hammer, a transverse wave travels down the cord and reaches the other support in 0.85
s. What is the tension in the cord?

v  FT  .
For a cord under tension, we have from Eq. 15-2 that The speed is also the
x
v
displacement divided by the elapsed time, t . The displacement is the length of the
cord.
FT x l 2
m l 2
ml  0.40 kg   7.8 m 
v   FT       4.3 N
 t  t  2
l  t  2
 t  2
 0.85s  2

11. (II) The wave on a string shown in Fig. 15–33 is moving to the right with a speed of
1.10 m/s. (a) Draw the shape of the string 1.00 s later and indicate which parts of the string

are moving up and which down at that instant. (b) Estimate the vertical speed of point A on
the string at the instant shown in the Figure.

(a) The shape will not change. The wave will move 1.10 meters to the right in 1.00 seconds. See the
graph. The parts of the string that are moving up or down are indicated.
 (b) At the instant shown, the string at point A will be moving down. As the wave moves to the right,
the string at point A will move down by 1 cm in the time it takes the “valley” between 1 m and 2
m to move to the right by about 0.25 m.
y 1cm
v   4 cm s
t 0.25 m 1.10 m s
This answer will vary depending on the values read from the graph.

2 πx
23.(I) Suppose at t  0, a wave shape is represented by D= Asin ( λ +ϕ) that is, it differs from

Eq. 15–9 by a constant phase factor ϕ .What then will be the equation for a wave traveling to
the left along the x axis as a function of x and t ?

To represent a wave traveling to the left, we replace x by x  vt. The resulting expression can be given
in various forms.
   x  vt      A sin  2  x  t    
D  A sin  2  x  vt       A sin  2      T  
     
 A sin  kx  t   

30. (II) A sinusoidal wave traveling on a string in the negative x direction has amplitude 1.00 cm,

wavelength 3.00 cm, and frequency 245 Hz. At t  0, the particle of string at x  0 is

displaced a distance D  0.80 cm above the origin and is moving upward. (a) Sketch the

shape of the wave at t  0 and (b) determine the function of x and t that describes the wave.
(a) For the particle of string at x = 0, the displacement is not at the full amplitude at t = 0. The particle
is moving upwards, and so a maximum is approaching from the right. The general form of the wave
D  x, t   A sin  kx  t   
. At x = 0 and t = 0, 
D 0, 0   A sin 
is given by and so we can find the
phase angle.
D  0, 0   A sin   0.80cm   1.00 cm  sin     sin 1  0.80   0.93

D  x, 0   A sin 
 2 x  0.93  , x in cm.

So we have  3.0  See the graph. It matches the description
given earlier.

1.2

0.8

0.4
D (cm)

-0.4

-0.8

-1.2
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
x (cm)
(b) We use the given data to write the wave function. Note that the wave is moving to the right,
and that the phase angle has already been determined.
D  x , t   A sin  kx  t   
2
A  1.00 cm ; k   2.09 cm 1 ;   2 f  2  245 Hz   1540 rad s
3.00 cm

 
D  x , t    1.00 cm  sin  2.09 cm 1 x   1540 rad s  t  0.93 , x in cm, t in s

37. (II) A cord has two sections with linear densities of 0.10 kg/m and 0.20 kg/m, Fig. 15–34.

D  0.050 m sin 7.5 x  12.0t ,

An incident wave, given by where x is in meters and t in
seconds, travels along the lighter cord. (a) What is the wavelength on the lighter section of
the cord? (b) What is the tension in the cord? (c) What is the wavelength when the wave
travels on the heavier section?

(a) For the wave in the lighter cord,

  
D  x , t    0.050 m  sin  7.5m -1 x  12.0s 1 t  . 
2 2
   0.84 m
k 
7.5 m 1 
(b) The tension is found from the velocity, using Eq. 15-2.
 12.0s1   0.26 N
2
FT 2
v  FT   v   2   0.10 kg m 
2

  7.5 m 1 
2
k
(c) The tension and the frequency do not change from one section to the other.
12 22 1 2 1 2
FT1  FT2   1 2  2 2  2  1   0.5  0.59 m
k1 k2 2 k1 2  7.5 m 1 

42.(II) Suppose two linear waves of equal amplitude and frequency have a phase difference f as
they travel in the same medium. They can be represented by

D1= Asin(kx−ωt )
 D 2= Asin (kx−ωt + ϕ)

1 1
(a) Use the trigonometric identity : sin θ1 +sin θ2=2 sin ( θ1 +θ2 ) cos (θ1−θ2 )
2 2
to show that the resultant wave is given by

ϕ
(
D= 2 Acos
2 )
sin (kx−ωt+ ϕ/2)

(b) What is the amplitude of this resultant wave? Is the wave purely sinusoidal, or not? (c)
Show that constructive interference occurs ifϕ=0,2 π , 4 π and so on, and destructive
interference occurs if ϕ=π ,3 π ,5 π , … etc. (d) Describe the resultant wave, by equation

π
and in words, if ϕ= .
2

(a) The resultant wave is the algebraic sum of the two component waves.

D  D1  D2  A sin  kx  t   A sin  kx  t     A  sin  kx  t   A sin  kx  t    

 A 2 sin 12   kx  t    kx  t       cos 12   kx  t    kx  t     

   
 2 A sin 12  2kx  2t      cos 12       2 A cos  sin  kx  t  
 2  2

2 A cos .
2
(b) The amplitude is the absolute value of the coefficient of the sine function, The wave
 
sin  kx  t   .
purely sinusoidal  2
is because the dependence on x and t is
(c) If   0, 2 , 4 , , 2n , then the amplitude is
 2n
2 A cos  2 A cos  2 A cos n  2 A  1
2 2  2A , which is constructive interference. If
  2n  1   2 A cos  n  1    0
   , 3 , 5 ,  ,  2n  1 
2 A cos  2 A cos
2 2  2 
, then the amplitude is ,
which is destructive interference.


(d) If 2 , then the resultant wave is as follows.
         
D   2 A cos  sin  kx  t     2 A cos  sin  kx  t    2 A sin  kx  t  
 2  2  4  4  4
This wave has an amplitude of 2A , is traveling in the positive x direction, and is shifted to the
left by an eighth of a cycle. This is “halfway” between the two original waves. The
1
A
displacement is 2 at the origin at t = 0.