Wave Speed Formula

It has been told that a wave is said to be one type of disturbance in the moving medium. For example, a movement of the ocean wave can be found moving inside the medium; we could visualize the crest of this wave from one point towards another within some given period. The description of an object's motion may further go by relating to speed as it would describe velocity in an object.

A wave is visualized by a source vibrating and disturbing the particle in the medium. This can be generally observed in the case of the tuning fork or ripples in water when a body is dropped, etc.

The term known as frequency is the number of waves traveled in a single second. It is reciprocal to the wavelength of the waves. The distance between corresponding points that exist in any two adjacent waves is termed as wavelength.

Formula 

The Wave speed expression that utilizes wavelength and frequency is given as:

v = f λ

where,

• v is the speed of the wave

• f is the frequency of wave

• λ is the wavelength

Solved Examples

Example 1: Lightwave is travelling with 600 nm. Calculate frequency.

Solution:

Given,

Wavelength λ = 600 nm, 

Light Speed v =

Frequency is computed by,

 

Frequency for the light wave is 51014 Hz

Example 2: Wavelength of 1.5 mm the sound wave determines its frequency.

Solution:

Given,

Wavelength λ = 1.5 mm, 

Sound Velocity v =343.2 m/s. 

The frequency can be found by,