Wave Calculations

1. A wave along a guitar string has a frequency of 540 Hz and a wavelength of 2.5 meters. Calculate the speed of the wave.

2. The speed of sound in air is about 340 m/s. What is the wavelength of sound waves produced by a guitar string vibrating at 490 Hz?

3. The speed of light is 3 x108 m/s. What is the frequency of microwaves with a wavelength of 0.01 meter?

4. What is the period of the microwaves in the above question?

5. The string on a piano that produces an A sharp vibrates with a frequency of 235 Hz. If the sound waves produced by this string have a wavelength in air of 1.49 meters, what is the
speed of sound in air?

6. The average wavelength in a series of ocean waves is 15.0 meters. A wave crest arrives at the shore on an average of every 10.0 seconds, so the frequency is 0.100 Hz. What is the
average speed of the waves?

7. An FM radio station broadcasts electromagnetic waves at a frequency of 94.5 MHz (equal to 94,500,000 Hz). These radio waves have a wavelength of 3.17 meters. What is the speed
of the waves?

8. Green light has a wavelength of 5.2 x 10-7 meters. The speed of light is 3 x108 m/s. Calculate the frequency of green light waves with this wavelength.

9. Calculate the period of the green light waves in the question above.

10. What is the wavelength of a sound wave with a frequency of 220 Hz if its speed is 340 m/s?

11. What is the period of the sound wave above?

12. Ocean waves are hitting a beach at a rate of 3.5 Hz.

1. What is the period of the waves?
2. Calculate the speed of the waves if the distance between wave crests is 1.3 meters.

13. The note A above middle C on a piano emits a sound wave with a wavelength of 0.77 meters.
1. What is the frequency of the wave? Use 340 m/s as the speed of the sound wave.
2. What is the period of the sound wave?

14. If the distance between 2 troughs of a wave is 2.6 meters and it is traveling at a speed of 129 m/s, find the period of the wave.
Bell Ringer

1. The speed of sound in air is 342 m/s. What

is the wavelength of the note E if it has a
frequency of 512 Hz?
2. What is the period of the wave above?
What Are Electromagnetic Waves?

How are electromagnetic waves different

from mechanical waves?
Electromagnetic waves are produced when
an electric charge vibrates or accelerates.
Electromagnetic waves can travel through a
vacuum, or empty space, as well as through
matter.
What Are Electromagnetic Waves?
Electromagnetic waves are transverse waves
consisting of changing electric fields and
changing magnetic fields.
Like mechanical waves, electromagnetic waves
carry energy from place to place.
Electromagnetic waves differ from mechanical
waves in how they are produced and how they
travel.
What Are Electromagnetic Waves?
Electromagnetic waves are transverse waves
because the fields are at right angles to the
direction in which the wave travels.
The Speed of Electromagnetic Waves

What is the maximum speed of light?

The speed of light in a vacuum, c,

is 3.00 108 meters per second.
Wavelength and Frequency

How do electromagnetic waves differ from

one another?

Electromagnetic waves vary in

wavelength and frequency.
Wavelength and Frequency
The speed of an electromagnetic wave
is the product of its wavelength and its
frequency.
The speed of electromagnetic waves in a
vacuum is constant, so the wavelength is
inversely proportional to the frequency.
As the wavelength increases, the
frequency decreases.
 Wavelength and Frequency
Calculating Wave Speed
A radio station broadcasts a radio wave
with a wavelength of 3.0 meters. What is
the frequency of the wave?
Wavelength and Frequency
Read and Understand
What information are you given?
Wavelength and Frequency
Plan and Solve
What unknown are you trying to calculate?

What formula contains the given quantities and the

unknown?
Wavelength and Frequency
Plan and Solve
Replace each variable with its known value.
Wavelength and Frequency
Look Back and Check
Is your answer reasonable?

Check that the product of wavelength and frequency gives

a speed of 3.0 x 108 m/s.
Wavelength and Frequency
1. A global positioning satellite
transmits a radio wave with a
wavelength of 0.19 m. What is the
frequency of the radio wave?
Wavelength and Frequency
1. A global positioning satellite transmits a radio
wave with a wavelength of 19 cm. What is the
frequency of the radio wave? (Hint: Convert the
wavelength to meters before calculating the
frequency.)

Answer: Speed = Wavelength Frequency

Frequency = Speed/Wavelength =
(3.00 108 m/s)/(0.19 m) = 1.6 109 Hz
 The Waves of the Spectrum
The full range of frequencies of electromagnetic
radiation is called the electromagnetic spectrum.
Visible light is the only part of the electromagnetic
spectrum that you can see, but it is just a small part.
Each kind of wave is characterized by a range of
wavelengths and frequencies. All of these waves have
many useful applications.
 The Waves of the Spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum consists of radio waves, infrared rays,
visible light, ultraviolet rays, X-rays, and gamma rays.
 Visible Light
Each color of light
corresponds to a different
range of wavelengths. The
wavelengths of visible light
are quite small.
Wavelengths of red light, for
example, are about one
hundredth the thickness of
a human hair.
Visible Light: 400nm-
750nm for wavelength
Wavelength and Frequency

2. Violet light has a wavelength of 4.10 x 10-12 m.

What is the frequency?
Assessment Questions

2. What is the wavelength of a radio wave that has a

frequency of 1.5 x 106 Hz? (c = 3.0x108 m/s)
a. 45 m
b. 200 m
c. 450 m
d. 2 km
Assessment Questions

2. What is the wavelength of a radio wave that has a

frequency of 1.5 x 106 Hz? (c = 3.0x108 m/s)
a. 45 m
b. 200 m
c. 450 m
d. 2 km

ANS: B