A student moves the end of a compressed coiled spring up and down to demonstrate wave motion. She then moves the compressed coiled spring faster but keeps everything else the same. Which characteristic will increase?
A. wavelength
B. frequency
C. amplitude
D. crest
B. frequency
If the student moves the compressed coiled spring faster while keeping everything else the same, the characteristic that will increase is B. frequency.
Frequency refers to the number of complete cycles or oscillations that occur in a given time period. By moving the spring faster, the student increases the number of oscillations per second, which in turn increases the frequency of the wave.
When a student moves the end of a compressed coiled spring up and down to demonstrate wave motion, they are creating transverse waves. Transverse waves have specific characteristics, including wavelength, frequency, amplitude, and crest.
Now, let's analyze the situation. The student is moving the compressed coiled spring faster while keeping everything else the same. This means the distance covered by the wave in a given time period is increasing.
When the student moves faster, the frequency of the wave increases. Frequency is the number of complete waves passing a certain point per second. In this case, since the student is moving faster, more waves will pass by a specific point in one second. Therefore, the correct answer is B. frequency.