Fundamentals of Physics Extended (10th Edition)

Published by Wiley
ISBN 10: 1-11823-072-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-11823-072-5

Chapter 16 - Waves-I - Problems - Page 476: 67a

Answer

$0.314\;mm$

Work Step by Step

Let the two sinusoidal waves are moving in the positive direction of an $x$-axis The mathematical form of the resultant displacement of the two waves is given by $y(x, t)= y_m\sin(kx- \omega t)+y_m\sin(kx- \omega t+\phi)$ where $\phi$ is the phase difference between the two waves. or, $y(x, t)= y_m\Big[\sin\frac{kx- \omega t+kx- \omega t+\phi}{2}\cos\frac{kx- \omega t-kx+ \omega t-\phi}{2}\Big]$ or, $y^{'}(x, t)=y_m\cos\frac{\phi}{2}\sin\Big(kx-\omega t+\frac{\phi}{2}\Big) ............(1)$ Comparing $(1)$ with $y^{'}(x, t)=(3.0\;mm)\sin(20x-4.0t+0.820\;rad)$, we obtain $k=20$ or, $\frac{2\pi}{\lambda}=20$ or, $\lambda=\frac{2\pi}{20}\;mm$ or, $\lambda=0.314\;mm$ Therefore, the wavelength of the two waves is $0.314\;mm$.
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