A wave on a string is described by the equation y(x, t) = A sin(kx - ωt). What does 'k' represent?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
A wave on a string is described by the equation y(x, t) = A sin(kx - ωt). What does 'k' represent?
Angular frequency
Wave number
Amplitude
Phase constant
'k' is the wave number, which is related to the wavelength of the wave.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: A wave on a string is described by the equation y(x, t) = A sin(kx - ωt). What does 'k' represent?
Solution: 'k' is the wave number, which is related to the wavelength of the wave.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand the equation y(x, t) = A sin(kx - ωt). This equation describes a wave on a string.
Step 2: Identify the variables in the equation: 'A' is the amplitude, 'k' is the wave number, 'ω' is the angular frequency, 'x' is the position, and 't' is time.
Step 3: Focus on 'k'. The wave number 'k' tells us how many wavelengths fit into a unit of distance.
Step 4: The relationship between the wave number 'k' and the wavelength 'λ' is given by the formula k = 2π/λ.
Step 5: This means that if you know the wavelength of the wave, you can find 'k' by using the formula.
