Numerical Problems

Wave Motion:
𝜋𝑥
1. A travelling wave is represented by 𝑦 = 4 𝑠𝑖𝑛 [2000𝜋𝑡 − 20 ], x and y in cm, t in sec. Find
a) the amplitude, wavelength, frequency, time period, wave number, angular frequency, and the speed of
propagation of the wave, Answer: 𝑎 = 4 𝑐𝑚, 𝜆 = 40 cm, f = 1000 Hz, 𝑇 = 10−3 s,
𝜋
k = 20 rad/cm, 𝜔 = 2000𝜋 rad/sec, v = 400 m/s
b) the initial phase of the particle at the origin, Answer: 0
c) the equation of the wave with double the amplitude and half the frequency but travelling exactly in opposite
𝜋𝑥
directions. Answer: 𝑦 = 8 𝑠𝑖𝑛 [1000𝜋𝑡 + 40 ]
2. The left end of a string stretched along X-axis is attached to a vibrator moving in a transverse direction with a
frequency of 20 Hz. At t=0, the source is at a maximum displacement of y = 1 cm. Write the equation for the
𝜋
wave, if the wave velocity is 80 m/s. Answer:(1.0 𝑐𝑚) 𝑐𝑜𝑠 [(40𝜋𝑠 −1 )𝑡 − ( 2 𝑚−1 )𝑥]

3. A fisherman notices that his boat is moving up and down periodically owing to the waves on surface of water.
It takes 2.5 s for the boat to travel from its highest point down to its lowest point, a total distance of 0.62 m. The
fisherman observes that the wave crests are spaced 6 m apart.
(a) What is the amplitude of the wave?
(b) How fast are the waves travelling? Answer: (a) 0.31 m, (b) 1.2 m/s
4. If the frequency of a tuning fork is 400 Hz, how far does the sound travel when the fork makes 30 vibrations.
The given velocity of sound in air is 320 m/s. Answer: 24m
5. Calculate the change in wavelength of sound wave of frequency 1 KHz when it enters into water from air.
[Velocity of sound in air is 344 m/s, Velocity of sound in water is 1480 m/s] Answer: 1.136 m
6. A wave of frequency 500 Hz is travelling at 350 m/s.
(a) How far apart are two points 60° out of phase?
(b) By how much does the phase of a particle change in 1 millisecond. Answer: (a) 0.117 m, (b) 180°
7. Earthquakes generate sound waves inside Earth. Unlike a gas, Earth can experience both transverse (S) and
longitudinal (P) sound waves. Typically, the speed of S-waves is about 4.5 km/s, and that of P-waves is about
8 km/s. A seismograph records P and S-waves from an earthquake. The first P-wave arrives 3 minutes before
the first S-wave. If the waves travel in a straight line, how far away did the earthquake occur?
Answer: 1.9 × 103 𝑘𝑚
8. The equation for a wave travelling in X-direction on a string is

Find the i) maximum velocity of a particle of the string,

i) What is the maximum displacement of the particle at x = 5.66 cm?

Rohit Rijal
MSc. Physics, Tribhuvan University
[email protected]
10. Two waves, travelling in the same direction through the same region, have equal frequencies, wavelengths and
amplitudes. If the amplitude of each wave is 4 mm and the phase difference between the waves is 90 o, what is
the resultant amplitude? Answer: 4√2 𝑚𝑚

Mechanical Waves:
1. Find the change in velocity of sound per ℃ change in temperature of the air. Answer: 0.6 m/s
2. At what temperature the velocity of sound in air is increased by 50 % to that at 27℃? Answer: 402℃
3. The velocity of sound in air saturated with water vapor at 50℃ is 340m/s. The S. V. P. of water at 50℃ is
31.7 mm of mercury. Calculate the velocity of sound in dry air at 10℃, if the atmospheric pressure is 65 cm
of mercury. Answer: 315.3 m/s
4. A detonator explodes on a railway line. An observer standing on the rail 2.0 km away, hears two reports.
What is the time interval between these two reports? [Young’s modulus for steel = 2.0 × 1011 𝑁𝑚−2 ,
𝜌𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑙 = 8.0 × 103 𝑘𝑔, 𝜌𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 1.4 𝑘𝑔, 𝛾 = 1.4, 𝑃 = 105 𝑁𝑚−2 Answer: 5.92 sec
5. The speed of sound in dry air at NTP is 332 m/s. Assuming air is composed of 4 parts of nitrogen and one part
of oxygen, calculate the velocity of sound in oxygen under similar conditions when the densities of oxygen and
nitrogen at NTP are in the ratio of 16:14 respectively. Answer: 314.96 m/s
6. What is the bulk modulus of oxygen if 32.0 g of oxygen occupies 22.4 liters and the speed of sound in the
oxygen is 317 m/s? Answer: 1.44 × 105 𝑁𝑚−2
7. A source of the sound of frequency 512 Hz emits waves of wavelength 670 mm in the air at 20℃. What would
be the velocity and wavelength of sound in air at 0℃? Answer: 331.1 m/s, 646.7 mm
8. A man standing at one end of a closed corridor 57m long blows a short blast on a whistle. He found that the
time from the blast to the sixth echo was 2 seconds. If the temperature was 17℃, what was the velocity of sound
at 0℃? Answer: 331.8 m/s
9. The time interval between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder is 2 sec, when the temperature of the
air is 10℃. How far is the storm if the velocity of sound in air at 0℃ is 330 m/s? Answer: 672 m

Rohit Rijal
MSc. Physics, Tribhuvan University
[email protected]