john stands on the harbour wall and sees four wave crests pass in 8s. he estimates the distance between the two successive crests as 4m. the time is measured from the beginning of the first crest to the end of the fourth crest .
14.1 calculate the period of the wave
14.2 calculate the speed of the wave
14.1 To calculate the period of the wave, we need to know the time it takes for one wave crest to pass. Since John sees four wave crests pass in 8 seconds, we can divide the total time by the number of crests to find the period of the wave.
Period = Total Time / Number of Crests
Period = 8 s / 4 = 2 s
Therefore, the period of the wave is 2 seconds.
14.2 To calculate the speed of the wave, we can use the formula:
Speed = Distance / Time
Since John estimates the distance between two successive crests as 4m and the total time for four crests is 8 seconds, we can substitute these values into the formula to find the speed of the wave.
Speed = 4m / 8s
Speed = 0.5 m/s
Therefore, the speed of the wave is 0.5 meters per second.