A woman is sitting in a boat at anchor on a lake. Her boat bobs up and down once every 2.0·s. She notices that when the front of her 5.0·m long boat is at one wave crest, a second crest is at the middle of her boat, and a third is at the end.
What is the frequency of the waves?
Can the answer be a fraction or a decimal? What equation can I use to solve this?
To find the frequency of the waves, we need to first understand the definition of frequency. Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. In this case, the repeating event is the bobbing of the boat, and the unit of time is seconds.
The problem states that the boat bobs up and down once every 2.0 seconds. This is the time it takes for one complete cycle of the boat's motion.
To calculate the frequency, we can use the formula:
Frequency (f) = 1 / Time Period (T)
The time period (T) is the time it takes for one complete cycle, which in this case is 2.0 seconds.
Substituting the values into the formula:
f = 1 / 2.0·s
Simplifying, we find:
f = 0.5·s⁻¹
So, the frequency of the waves is 0.5 Hz (Hertz).