Practice Transverse Wave in Physics

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

Quick Recap

A wave where the medium oscillates perpendicular to the direction of wave travel.

Shake a rope side-to-side: the wave travels along the rope, but the rope moves up and down.

Example 1

easy
A transverse wave on a rope has a wavelength of 1.5 \text{ m} and a frequency of 4 \text{ Hz}. What is the wave speed? In which direction do the rope particles move relative to the wave's direction?

Example 2

medium
A transverse wave on a string has a speed of 20 \text{ m/s}. The string has a tension of 80 \text{ N}. What is the linear mass density of the string?

Example 3

medium
Explain why transverse waves can travel through solids but not through fluids (liquids and gases). Give an example of each.

Example 4

hard
A guitar string (\mu = 0.003 \text{ kg/m}, length 0.65 \text{ m}) is tuned to play a note at 330 \text{ Hz} (fundamental mode). What tension must be applied to the string?