AP PHYSICS 2 CLASS 9: MECHANICAL WAVES

1. Of the following properties of a wave, the one that is independent of the others is its .
(A) amplitude
(B) speed
(C) wavelength
(D) frequency
(E) period

2. Waves transmit from one place to another.

(A) mass
(B) amplitude
(C) wavelength
(D) energy

3. Which of the following is an example of a longitudinal wave?

(A) Water wave
(B) Microwave
(C) Sound wave
(D) Radio wave
(E) X-ray

4. Which of the following distances describes the amplitude of a wave?

(A) Crest to trough
(B) Crest to crest
(C) Trough to trough
(D) Top of crest to bottom of trough
(E) Crest to equilibrium position

5. Which of the following measurements is used to find the wavelength?

(A) Crest to zero displacement
(B) Crest to trough
(C) Trough to zero displacement
(D) Trough to crest
(E) Crest to crest

6. A wave has a frequency of 100 Hz and a wavelength of 1 m. What is the speed of the wave?
(A) 0.01 m/s
(B) 1 m/s
(C) 10 m/s
(D) 100 m/s
(E) 1000 m/s

7. Which of the following quantities remains constant as a mechanical wave travels from one type of spring into
another?
(A) Frequency
(B) Wavelength
(C) Speed
(D) Amplitude
(E) Spring constant
 8. Two waves have the same frequency. What other characteristic must be the same for these waves?
(A) Speed
(B) Period
(C) Amplitude
(D) Intensity
(E) Wavelength
9. A child dips her finger repeatedly into the water to make waves. If she dips her finger more frequently, the
wavelength and the speed .
(A) Increases; decreases
(B) Decreases; increases
(C) Increases; stays the same
(D) Decreases; stays the same
(E) Stays the same; increases
10. As a wave is formed, what is the relationship between the wavelength and frequency?
(A) Linearly related and directly proportional
(B) Linearly related but not directly proportional
(C) Inversely proportional
(D) Parabolic
(E) Exponential
Questions 11–13 use the following figure:

+𝐴

−𝐴/3

11. Two waves are traveling on a string. The directions and amplitude of each wave are shown in the figure. When
the two waves meet, what will be the amplitude of the resulting wave?
(A) −4𝐴/3
(B) −2𝐴/3
(C) 0
(D) 2𝐴/3
(E) 4𝐴/3
12. The figure depicts which of the following phenomena?
(A) Standing wave
(B) Transverse wave
(C) Destructive interference
(D) Constructive interference
(E) Doppler effect
13. After the waves interact, what will happen?
(A) One wave (2𝐴/3) will travel to the right.
(B) One wave (−2𝐴/3) will travel to the left.
(C) There will be no more waves.
(D) One wave (+𝐴) will travel to the right, while one wave (−𝐴/3) will travel to the left.
(E) One wave (−𝐴) will travel to the right, while one wave (+𝐴/3) will travel to the left.
14. While relaxing at a wave pool, you notice the wave machine making 12 waves in 40 s and the wave crests are
3.6 m apart.
(a) Determine the speed that the waves must be traveling.

(b) Your friend tells you that he can make the waves travel faster by increasing the frequency to 2 waves per
second. Would you agree? Explain. What would change in the wave if the frequency increases, and what
would be the new value?

15. A steel piano wire is 0.70 m long and has a mass of 5.0 g. It is stretched with a tension of 500 N.
(a) What is the speed of the transverse wave on the wire?

(b) To reduce the speed by a factor of 2 without changing the tension, what mass of copper wire would have to
be wrapped around the steel wire?

16. The E-string on a violin produces a frequency of 660 Hz, and the wavelength of the standing wave on the string
is 650 mm,
(a) Estimate the speed of the travelling wave on the violin.

(b) If that E-string has a tension of 82.3 N, what is the density (𝜌) of the metal that the string is made of?
Assume that the string is perfectly circular, with a radius of 0.27 mm. Mass of an object 𝑚 = 𝜌𝑉, and the
volume of a cylinder is 𝑉 = 𝜋𝑟 2 𝐿. (Hint: solve the problem algebraically first, and then substitute numerical
values. Some terms will automagically cancel.)
17. The figure above on the left shows a uniformly thick rope hanging vertically from an oscillator that is turned off.
When the oscillator is on and set at a certain frequency, the rope forms the standing wave shown above on the
right. 𝑃 and 𝑄 are two points on the rope.
(a) The tension at point 𝑃 is greater than the tension at point 𝑄. Briefly explain why.

(b) A student hypothesizes that increasing the tension in a rope increases the speed at which waves travel along
the rope. In a clear, coherent paragraph-length response that may also contain figures and/or equations,
explain why the standing wave shown above supports the student’s hypothesis.
18. A transverse wave travels to the right along a string.
(a) Two dots have been painted on the string. In the diagrams below, those dots are labeled 𝑃 and 𝑄.
i. The figure below shows the string at an instant in time. At the instant shown, dot 𝑃 has maximum
displacement and dot 𝑄 has zero displacement from equilibrium. At each of 𝑃 and 𝑄, draw an arrow
indicating the direction of the instantaneous velocity of that dot. If either dot has zero velocity, write
“𝑣 = 0” next to the dot.

ii. The figure below shows the string at the same instant as shown in part (a)i. At each of 𝑃 and 𝑄, draw
an arrow indicating the direction of the instantaneous acceleration of that dot. If either dot has zero
acceleration, write “𝑎 = 0” next to the dot.

The figure below represents the string at time 𝑡 = 0, the same instant as shown in part (a) when dot 𝑃 is at it
maximum displacement from equilibrium. For simplicity, dot 𝑄 is not shown.

(b) i. On the grid below, draw the string at a later time 𝑡 = 𝑇/4, where 𝑇 is the period of the wave.

ii. On your drawing above, draw a dot to indicate the position of dot 𝑃 on the string at time 𝑡 = 𝑇/4 and
clearly label the dot with the letter 𝑃.
(c) Now consider the wave at time 𝑡 = 𝑇. Determine the distance traveled (not the displacement) by dot 𝑃
between times 𝑡 = 0 and 𝑡 = 𝑇.
19. The figure above shows a string with one end attached to an oscillator and the other end attached to a block. The
string passes over a massless pulley that turns with negligible friction. Four such strings, 𝐴, 𝐵, 𝐶, and 𝐷, are set
up side by side, as shown in the diagram below. Each oscillator is adjusted to vibrate the string at its fundamental
frequency 𝑓 . The distance between each oscillator and pulley 𝐿 is the same, and the mass 𝑀 of each block is
the same. However, the fundamental frequency of each string is different.

√︂
𝐹𝑇
The equation for the velocity 𝑣 of a wave on a string is 𝑣 = , where 𝐹𝑇 is the tension of the string and
𝑚/𝐿
𝑚/𝐿 is the mass per unit length (linear mass density) of the string.
(a) What is different about the four strings shown above that would result in their having different fundamental
frequencies? Explain how you arrived at your answer.

(b) A student graphs frequency as a function of the inverse of the linear mass density. Will the graph be linear?
Explain how you arrived at your answer.
(c) The frequency of the oscillator connected to string 𝐷 is changed so that the string vibrates in its second
harmonic. On the side view of string 𝐷 below, mark and label the points on the string that have the greatest
average vertical speed.