Question

A wavelength approaching land at 25 m/s is 4.0 x 102 m. What is its period?

Answer 1

Answer:

16 s

Explanation:

The frequency of a wave is the number of oscillations of the wave per second. It is given by:

$f=\frac{v}{\lambda}$

where

v is the wave speed

$\lambda$ is the wavelength

For the wave in this problem we have

v = 25 m/s

$\lambda=4.0\cdot 10^2 m=400 m$

So the frequency is

$f=\frac{25}{400}=0.0625 Hz$

The period of a wave is the time taken for one complete oscillation, and it is equal to the reciprocal of the frequency:

$T=\frac{1}{f}$

So the period of this wave is:

$T=\frac{1}{0.0625}=16 s$