Question

1. How is wave speed related to frequency and wavelength?

2. Does the frequency of a wave depend on the properties of the medium?

3. What happens to wavelength when speed is decreased?

4. What are two ways to decrease the speed of the wave (you can change the medium here, but how)?

Answer 1

1) λf = c (speed of the wave in m/s)
λ = Wavelength in meters
f = frequency in Hz

2)

Frequency, in physices,is the number of crests that pas a fixed point in the medium in unit time So it should depend on the source not on the medium. If I take a source who vibrates faster than yours then number of erests that my source can create per second (for example) will be more than yours But speed of the wave depend on the properties of the medium, for example temperature, density etc etc. we also know that Wavelength frequenicu speerd frequency From this equation wavelength depend on the speed of the wave (i.e the medium) and the frequency so it is different for different medium. (Think of frequency in the equation as a constant since its only depend on the source, so if now speed changes; i.e medium changes then only wavelength changes)

3)

If the wavelength increases then the speed of the wave remains unchanged This is because, Velocity = fre- quency * wave length. So if the wavelength increases then frequency decreases in the same proportion and the product of frequency and wave length remains same i.e. velocity remains same.

4)

One theme of this unit has been that "a wave is a disturbance moving through a medium." There are two distinct objects in this phrase - the "wave" and the "medium." The medium could be water, air, or a slinky. These media are distinguished by their properties - the material they are made of and the physical properties of that material such as the density, the temperature, the elasticity, etc. Such physical properties describe the material itself, not the wave. On the other hand, waves are distinguished from each other by their properties amplitude, wavelength, frequency, etc. These properties describe the wave, not the material through which