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Question

Suppose you do a lab where you measure wavelength of a wave and the period of the wave. Then if you make a graph where the wavelength is on the y-axis and the period on the x-axis, what should the graph look like? What are the units of the slope of the line? What is the Physics significance of the slope of the line? Please explain how you would know.

Answer 1

If all the measurements are made for a wave in the same medium, the graph will be a straight line with positive slope, passing through the origin. The slope will be the speed of the wave inside the particular medium. Its units will be the same as the units of speed (distance / time). The speed of the wave depends only on the medium through which it travels. Its speed will not change even though you vary wavelength and period, because wavelength and period are directly proportional, and their ratio is constant, which also happens to be the wave speed.