If I hold a piece of rope from the top and flick it, a wave travels down it eventually stopping at the very bottom. What governs the speed of this wave? Surely it can’t be the speed of sound in the rope material as the wave moves much too slowly.

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If I hold a piece of rope from the top and flick it, a wave travels down it eventually stopping at the very bottom. What governs the speed of this wave? Surely it can’t be the speed of sound in the rope material as the wave moves much too slowly.

In: Physics

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The speed of a wave in a string is modeled by the equation:

v = √(T/μ)

v = velocity of the wave, T = tension of the string, μ = the linear density of the rope

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