Frequency/Speed (Boat A and B) QUESTION!?

W

West

Member
I keep getting this wrong but I have no idea what I'm doing wrong please help.



Two boats - Boat A and Boat B - are anchored a distance of 4.1 meters apart. The incoming water waves force the boats to oscillate up and down, making three complete cycles every 26.1 seconds. When Boat A is at its peak, Boat B is at its low point. There are never any wave crests between the two boats. The vertical distance between Boat A and Boat B at their extreme is 6.9 meters.


Determine the wavelength (in meters), frequency (in Hertz), and speed (in meters/second) of the wave.
 
G

gp4rts

Member
If there are no crests between the boats, then the boats are ½ wavelength apart (when one boat is at the peak, the other is at the trough), The total wavelength ? is then twice the distance between the boats

? = 2+4.1 = 8.2 m

If three complete cycles (peak-to-peak) takes 26.1 s, then the frequency of the wave is 3/26.1 - 0.115 cycle/sec so f = 0.115 Hz

c = ?*f = 8.2*0.115 = 0.943 m/s
 
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