Warning: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, bool given in /var/www/html/web/app/themes/studypress-core-theme/template-parts/header/mobile-offcanvas.php on line 20

Tsunami! On December 26, 2004 , a great earthquake occurred off the coast of Sumatra and triggered immense waves (tsunami) that killed some 200,000 people. Satellites observing these waves from space measured 800 km from one wave crest to the next and a period between waves of 1.0 hour . What was the speed of these waves in m/s and in km/hr? Does your answer help you understand why the waves caused such devastation?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The speed of sound wave in m/s is 222.2 m/s and in km/hr is 799.9 km/hr .

Step by step solution

01

Concept of the speed of the wave.

The number of vibrations per second is how frequency is defined. Wavelength is the shortest distance over which a wave can recur. The velocity of a wave is its speed over a certain period of time.

The speed of the wave is given by

v=λT

Where,λis the wavelength of the wave, v is the speed of sound. T is the time period of wave.

02

To calculate speed of the sound wave.

The distance between one wave crest to another crest is λ=800km

The time required to complete waves isT=1.0hour

Formula to calculate the speed of the wave is

v=λT

Substitute 800 km for λand 1.0 hour for T in the above equation.

v=800km103m1km1.0hr3600s1hr=222.2m/s

Convert the speed in m/s as,

v=222.2m/s1km103m3600s1hr=799.9km/hr

Hence, the speed of sound wave in m/s is 222.2 m/s and in km/hr is 799.9 km/hr

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

A piano wire with mass 3.00 g and length 80.0 cm is stretched with a tension of 25.0 N. A wave with frequency 120.0 Hz and amplitude 1.6 mm travels along the wire. (a) Calculate the average power carried by the wave. (b) What happens to the average power if the wave amplitude is halved?

You blow across the open mouth of an empty test tube and produce the fundamental standing wave of the air column inside the test tube. The speed of sound in air is 344 m/s and the test tube act as a stopped pipe. (a) If the length of the air column in the test tube is 14.0 cm, what is the frequency of this standing wave? (b) What is the frequency of the fundamental standing wave in the air column if the test tube is half filled with water?

BIO Human Hearing. A fan at a rock concert is 30 m from the stage, and at this point the sound intensity level is 110 dB (a) How much energy is transferred to her eardrums each second? (b) How fast would a 2.0-mg mosquito have to fly (in mm/s) to have this much kinetic energy? Compare the mosquito’s speed with that found for the whisper in part (a) of Exercise 16.13.

CP A police siren of frequency fsirenis attached to a vibrating platform. The platform and siren oscillate up and down in simple harmonic motion with amplitude APand frequency fp.(a) Find the maximum and minimum sound frequencies that you would hear at a position directly above the siren. (b) At what point in the motion of the platform is the maximum frequency heard? The minimum frequency? Explain.

If you wait at a railroad crossing as a train approach and passes, you hear a Doppler shift in its sound. But if you listen closely, you hear that the change in frequency is continuous; it does not suddenly go from one high frequency to another low frequency. Instead the frequency smoothly (but rather quickly) changes from high to low as the train passes. Why does this smooth change occur?

See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Physics Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free