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VCE (Victoria) Oscillatory Motion and Waves — practice questions — page 2

Explore 54 free Oscillatory Motion and Waves questions in VCE (Victoria) Physics. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Oscillatory Motion and Waves questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 31–54 of 54.

In physics, what is a wave?Read the answer and worked solution →What does the wavelength of a wave measure?Read the answer and worked solution →A sound of frequency 850 Hz travels through air at 340 m/s. What is its wavelength?Read the answer and worked solution →The crests of an ocean wave are 10.0 m apart, and a floating gull takes 5.00 s to bob up and down once. What is the wave velocity?Read the answer and worked solution →Wind gusts create ripples on the ocean with a wavelength of 5.00 cm that travel at 2.00 m/s. What is their frequency?Read the answer and worked solution →In a transverse wave, how does the disturbance relate to the direction the wave travels?Read the answer and worked solution →Sound waves in air are longitudinal. What does that say about the disturbance they carry?Read the answer and worked solution →Which of these is a transverse wave?Read the answer and worked solution →Two identical waves meet exactly out of phase, crest lined up with trough. What is the result?Read the answer and worked solution →What is a standing wave?Read the answer and worked solution →In a standing wave on a string, what is a node?Read the answer and worked solution →In a standing wave, what is an antinode?Read the answer and worked solution →A guitar string 0.600 m long is fixed at both ends, and waves travel along it at 240 m/s. What is its fundamental frequency?Read the answer and worked solution →A string vibrating at its fundamental frequency f1 is made to take up the next two standing wave patterns. What frequencies are those?Read the answer and worked solution →What is the intensity of a wave?Read the answer and worked solution →What is the SI unit of wave intensity?Read the answer and worked solution →A speaker sends 1.50 W of sound power evenly through an opening of area 0.0150 m squared. What is the intensity of the sound there?Read the answer and worked solution →Sunlight of intensity 1300 W/m squared falls on a collector of area 0.500 m squared for 1.00 h. How much energy does the collector receive?Read the answer and worked solution →Two identical waves, each of intensity 1.00 W/m squared, interfere perfectly constructively. What is the intensity of the resulting wave?Read the answer and worked solution →Match each oscillation termRead the answer and worked solution →Affects a pendulum's period?Read the answer and worked solution →True or false: oscillationsRead the answer and worked solution →Follow one oscillation cycleRead the answer and worked solution →Complete the pendulum ruleRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

In physics, what is a wave?

  1. A steady flow of matter from one place to another
  2. A disturbance that propagates and carries energy
  3. A material that vibrates without ever moving
  4. A force that acts at a distance through space
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Correct answer: B. A disturbance that propagates and carries energy

1. A wave is a disturbance that propagates, moving away from the place where it was created. 2. What travels is the disturbance and the energy it carries, not the material itself. 3. Water waves, sound waves, earthquake waves and light all fit that description. 4. A steady flow of matter is a current rather than a wave, since the material itself is carried along. _Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 16 "Oscillatory Motion and Waves", section 16.9 Waves_

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What does the wavelength of a wave measure?

  1. The height of a crest above the trough
  2. The time between one crest and the next
  3. The speed at which a crest travels along
  4. The distance between adjacent identical parts
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Correct answer: D. The distance between adjacent identical parts

1. Wavelength is a length, measured parallel to the direction the wave travels. 2. It is the distance between adjacent identical parts of the wave, for example crest to next crest. 3. The time between one crest and the next is the period, which is measured in seconds instead. 4. Crest height above equilibrium is the amplitude, which is a different length altogether. _Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 16 "Oscillatory Motion and Waves", section 16.9 Waves_

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A sound of frequency 850 Hz travels through air at 340 m/s. What is its wavelength?

  1. 0.400 m
  2. 2.50 m
  3. 289 m
  4. 1.19 m
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Correct answer: A. 0.400 m

1. Wave speed, frequency and wavelength are linked by v_w = f x wavelength. 2. Rearranging gives wavelength = v_w / f. 3. Substitute: wavelength = 340 m/s divided by 850 Hz. 4. wavelength = 0.400 m. 5. Multiplying speed by frequency instead of dividing gives 289000, which is not a length at all. _Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 16 "Oscillatory Motion and Waves", section 16.9 Waves_

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