Unit: wave phenomena
Year: 1988 Question#: 46
Question: The number of water waves passing a given point each second is the wave's
(1 ) frequency
(2 ) amplitude
(3 ) wavelength
(4 ) velocity
What is this question really asking?
Explanation by: Meghan K.
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Answer 1
frequency
Correct
This is the right answer because frequency describes the number of cycles per unit of time. In this example, it is number of waves passing a given point per second.
Frequency= cycles/second
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Answer 2
amplitude
Incorrect
Amplitude describes the maximum height of displacement of a wave from its point of rest. This is asking how many times the wave passes the given point, not how high the maximum displacement of the wave is.
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wavelength
Incorrect
Wavelength is not how often a wave passes a certain point, but is the distance between two corresponding points on the different cycles of a wave.
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Answer 4
Velocity
Incorrect
Velocity is how fast something moves to a given displacement . The problem does not ask how quickly the waves move to the given point, but how often, per time. v=displacement/time return to top
What's this question really asking?
What is waves per second a measurement of? return to top
