Frequency of string and tuning fork

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somecelxis
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Homework Statement



can someone teach me on this question? i really don't know how to start with it. the ans is 0.38m and 4.1N

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution



the working is in the second photo
 
Attachments
  • Printed physics problem text about a sonometer wire of mass per unit length 1.0 × 10⁻³ kg m⁻¹ stretched over two bridges by a 40N load, with a 3Hz tuning fork and beat frequency questions.
    IMG_20140804_071516[1].jpg
    25.3 KB · Views: 543
  • Handwritten physics working on lined paper: a diagram of a string fixed at nodes N and N with an antinode A and a tuning fork labelled 4 0N, then mu = 1.0x10^-3, T = 40N, lambda = 2l, v = sqrt(T/mu), and f = v/lambda = (1/2l)sqrt(T/mu), leading to 3 = (1/2l)sqrt(40/1x10^-3) and l = 33.3m.
    IMG_20140805_015031[1].jpg
    23.3 KB · Views: 555
There seems to be some text missing from the question. The second sentence is incomplete. It reads "When ... and ... ". The reader expects some statement of what happens under those conditions, such as "a beat frequency of <some number> Hz is heard", but the sentence abruptly ends.
 
I didn't see any discontinuity. Maybe the OP corrected the image?

EDIT: NM I see your point. The wording is horrible. The problem is not fully stated no matter how you rearrange the given data. The tuning fork frequency is obviously needed. The 3 Hz is a beat, not the tuning fork frequency. Etc.
 
Last edited:
There seems to be line missing from the question between

... a tuning fork of
?
frequency of 3 Hz ..
 
rude man said:
I didn't see any discontinuity. Maybe the OP corrected the image?

EDIT: NM I see your point. The wording is horrible. The problem is not fully stated no matter how you rearrange the given data. The tuning fork frequency is obviously needed. The 3 Hz is a beat, not the tuning fork frequency. Etc.

why The 3 Hz is a beat, not the tuning fork frequency?
 
somecelxis said:
why The 3 Hz is a beat, not the tuning fork frequency?

Well, for one thing you couldn't hear a 3 Hz tuning fork.
For another, the problem is horribly badly described so I made a guess that the 3 Hz is intended to be a beat frequency and the tuning fork frequency was omitted.
 
rude man said:
Well, for one thing you couldn't hear a 3 Hz tuning fork.
For another, the problem is horribly badly described so I made a guess that the 3 Hz is intended to be a beat frequency and the tuning fork frequency was omitted.

why I couldn't hear 3hz tuning fork?
 
somecelxis said:
why I couldn't hear 3hz tuning fork?

The lowest frequency that humans can hear is about 20Hz.

You can see something vibrating at 3Hz if the amplitude is big enough. But a "tuning fork" that vibrated at 3 Hz would be about 1m long, which is nonsense.