| This Dude depends too much on his tube; what he needs is a boat and a big Evenrude! He's so engrossed in his book that he hasn't noticed how big the waves have become.
Dude's friends on shore have noticed, however, and are anxiously watching as he rides the crests and disappears into the troughs once every 10 seconds. They also noted that exactly 3 crests fit under a passing 32-meter sailboat (from bow to stern). While waiting for Dude to finish his book, they decided to calculate the period, frequency, wave- length and velocity of the water waves . They need help. Your help. So help them! |
The period (T) is 10 seconds, so the frequency (f) of the waves is (1/T) = 0.1 Hz.
If the distance from the first crest to the third (two complete waves) is 32 meters, the wavelength must be 16 meters. Since wave velocity equals the product of frequency and wavelength, the velocity of these waves is (0.1 Hz)(16 m) = 1.6 m/s. |