A travelling wave of amplitude 0.80 m has a frequency of 16 Hz and a wave speed of \(20\ \mathrm{m\,s^{-1}}\). Calculate the wave number of the wave.

Answer Details

The wave number of a wave is defined as the number of wavelengths per unit distance. It represents the spatial frequency of the wave.
In this case, the wave has a frequency of 16 Hz, which means it completes 16 cycles or oscillations per second. Each cycle corresponds to one wavelength.
The wave speed is given as 20 m/s, which is the speed at which the wave propagates through the medium.
To calculate the wave number, we can use the formula:
Wave number (k) = 2? / wavelength (?)
First, we need to find the wavelength of the wave. We can use the formula:
Wave speed (v) = frequency (f) x wavelength (?)
Rewriting the formula, we have:
Wavelength (?) = wave speed (v) / frequency (f)
Substituting the given values, we have:
Wavelength (?) = 20 m/s / 16 Hz
Simplifying the expression, we get:
Wavelength (?) = 1.25 m
Now, we can calculate the wave number using the formula:
Wave number (k) = 2? / wavelength (?)
Substituting the value of the wavelength, we get:
Wave number (k) = 2? / 1.25 m
Simplifying the expression, we get:
Wave number (k) ? 5.03
Therefore, the wave number of the wave is approximately 5.