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Physics - Wave Speed

Terms in this set (18)

Typical water wave speed
5 m/s
Average car speed on I-80
30 m/s
Speed of sound in air
343 m/s
Speed of light in a vacuum
3 x 108 m/s
300,000,000 m/s
The speed of a wave depends on
the properties of the medium it is traveling through.
Comparing wave speed in a medium
two waves of the same type are in the same medium and the same conditions, they will have the same velocity.
Medium
is what affects the wave speed, but this will not "appear" in the equation.
Speed of Sound
- sound waves travel the fastest through solids and the slowest through gases.
- sound waves travel faster through denser mediums as well as through warmer temperatures.
Calculating Wave Speed
v = f λ
The velocity of a wave, v, is determined by both its wavelength, λ, and its frequency, f.

- Wavelength and frequency are inversely related to each other.
What is the speed of a wave with a wavelength of 2 m and a frequency of 3 Hz?
The wave speed is 6 m/s.
WFMU emits an FM radio wave of 91.1 MHz, or 91,100,000 Hz. Radio waves propagate with a speed of 3 x 108 m/s. What is the wavelength of this EM/Light Wave?
This FM radio wave is 3.29 meters long.
A sound wave is traveling at a speed of 340 m/s and its wavelength is 0.023m. Calculate the wave's frequency.
We have a 14.8 kHz sound wave.
A trumpet sounds out a 330 Hz (E4) note. What is the size of this sound wave? Assume room temperature and standard conditions for the speed of sound.
A 330 Hz sound wave has a wavelength of 1.04 m.
Harmonics and Overtones Sounds
The timbre, or quality of sound, of an instrument or a voice is actually caused by a combination of many different frequencies, giving objects distinctive voices.
Harmonics and Overtones Frequency
Some of these frequencies are whole number multiples of the fundamental frequency. These are called harmonics. Any other tones that coexist but do not multiply in evenly are overtones.
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