How Far Will Waves Travel from Dual Point Sources in Water?

[roy5995]

How far will the waves go if two-point sources 2.0 m aparts from each other are making waves in water in phase with each other at a frequency of 1.0Hz. The speed of the waves are 0.60m/s. How far will the waves go?






(lambda)= v/f = 0.60/1 = 0.60m
wavelength is 0.60m

d= v/(lambda) = 0.60/0.60 = 1m

What did i do wrong? Or should the waves continue forever?

 

[HallsofIvy]

I don't understand the question. Why should the waves ever "stop"?

Clearly, the equation d= v/(lambda) = 0.60/0.60 = 1m is wrong simply because it has the wrong units: v is in m/s and lambda in m
v/lambda will give (m/s)(1/m)= 1/s: it has units of "per second", not meters and is not a length.

 

[M98Ranger]

Your calculations are correct. The waves will continue to travel indefinitely in the water, as long as there is no interference or absorption. The distance of 1 meter is the wavelength, which represents the distance between two consecutive peaks or troughs of the wave. Therefore, the waves will continue to propagate until they reach a barrier or dissipate due to other factors.