# Homework Help: Two wave problems

1. Oct 22, 2005

### Pixter

1. If a rope with mass "m" is suspended from the ceiling and a wave puse is produced at the lower end of the rope and will travel upwards.
Will the speed of the wave change, and if so, will it increase or decrease?
My taughts: I was trying to figure out if the tension itself will increase or not, because the speed will depend on the tension, right?. so lets say the pulse is travelling up the rope, then i taught that the mass behind the pusle will increase(because more length) and gravitational force will make the tension increasse, therefore the wavespeed should increase...right?)
2. If the displacement of a tight string is given by :
y(x,t) = A cos((2pi/constant)*(x-vt))
find a expression for vy(that is v in the y direction) at which a piece of string travels. What is the maximum value of vy? When is the maximum value greater than the wave propagation speed v?
my taught: I don't have a clue about this question though, don't knwo where to start, so if someone could give me a push in the right direction.
Thanx for the help!

Last edited: Oct 22, 2005
2. Oct 22, 2005

### Galileo

That's right. Since the upper end of the rope has to carry the weight of the rope beneath it the tension in the wire will increase as you go.
You are given y(x,t) and you are asked how fast y changes with time. That's what velocity is. So.. any thoughts?

3. Oct 22, 2005

### Pixter

Well i guess if a differentiate y(x,t) then I'll get vy. But I don't know how to defferentiate that when there's both x and t, only know how to defferentiate with the respects of x or t, not both at the same time.

4. Oct 22, 2005

### Galileo

Well, for the velocity you need to differentiate with respect to time. Keep x constant.

5. Oct 23, 2005

### Pixter

Okej, so I did it by partial differentiation and got:

((-2pi*v*A)/constant)*cos((2pi/consstant)*(x-vt))

Just wanna check if this is right, and then I could probably take it from there.. or i'll just come back =)

6. Oct 23, 2005

### Galileo

Almost, but there should be a sine instead of a cosine.
If there too much terms to see what you are doing just simplify the notation.
Introduce u(t)=2pi/const.*(x-vt), so that:
$$y(x,t)=A\cos(u(t))$$
and use the chain rule.