Olympic swimmers can swim at a speed of 1.7 m/s. If an Olympic swimmer were swimming in the ocean on a day when the wavelength of the waves was 20m and the frequency was 1 Hz, would the swimmer be able to swim fast enough to avoid being lifted by a wave? Show your calculation. Would I use the formula wavespeed=wavelength times frequency? I still can't make it work out!
Yes, you are correct that the formula to calculate the speed of a wave is wavespeed = wavelength x frequency. However, in this scenario, we need to compare the speed of the swimmer to the speed of the wave to determine if the swimmer can avoid being lifted by the wave.
To find the speed of the wave, we can use the given values of wavelength and frequency. The wavelength is 20m and the frequency is 1 Hz. Using the formula, wavespeed = wavelength x frequency, we can substitute the values to calculate the wavespeed:
wavespeed = 20m x 1 Hz
= 20m/s
Now, we know that the wavespeed in the ocean is 20 m/s. The swimmer's speed is given as 1.7 m/s. If the swimmer swims slower than the wavespeed, they will be lifted by the wave. However, if the swimmer swims faster than the wavespeed, they will be able to avoid being lifted.
Comparing the swimmer's speed (1.7 m/s) to the wavespeed (20 m/s), we can see that the swimmer is indeed swimming slower than the wavespeed. Therefore, the swimmer would not be able to swim fast enough to avoid being lifted by the wave.
To summarize:
Wavespeed = 20 m/s
Swimmer's speed = 1.7 m/s
Since the swimmer's speed is slower than the wavespeed, the swimmer would not be able to avoid being lifted by the wave.