What is the solution for the wave equation using u = cos(kx-wt)?

kiranm
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For a real stretched string, the wave equation is

(partial deriv)^2 (u)/partial deriv t^2 = (T/mu) (partial deriv)^2 (u)/partial deriv x^2 - B/mu(y)

where T is the tension in the string, mu is its mass per unit length and B is its "spring constant".
Show that the wave given by u = cos(kx-wt) is a solution of this equation

I know that v^2 (speed of wave) = T/mu and v^2= w^2/k^2 and 1/v^2= k^2/w^2

What i attempted was:
(partial deriv)^2 (u)/partial deriv t^2= -w^2 cos (kx-wt)
(partial deriv)^2 (u)/partial deriv x^2= -k^2 cos (kx-wt)
so i plugged this into the equation above and ended up with:
By= (cos(kx-wt))*(-Tk^2 + muw^2)
but i don't know how to prove that wave given by u=cos(kx-wt) is a solution of this equation
 
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kiranm said:
For a real stretched string, the wave equation is

(partial deriv)^2 (u)/partial deriv t^2 = (T/mu) (partial deriv)^2 (u)/partial deriv x^2 - B/mu(y)

Are you sure this is right? I don't think the B/mu(y) term is supposed to be there.
 
Yeah that's what was given in the question but its B/mu * y but it says that B represents the spring constant
 
and would you know how to derive the dispersion relation w(k), the wave speed v, and the group velocity vg?
 
for the above where i had cos(kx-wt)= By/(mu*w^2-Tk^2) the denominator mu*w^2 - Tk^2=0 because v^2= w^2/k^2 = T/mu and cross multiply this makes mu*w^2-Tk^2=0
 
im guessing instead of (B/mu)y it should be (B/mu)u

so yeh find partial derivatives of u wrt x and t, sub these in and sub in cos(kx-wt) for u and it all works out

dispersion relation w(k) is √((k^2T + B)/mu)
find v from v = w/k and v_g from v_g = dw/dk
 
To solve this, I first used the units to work out that a= m* a/m, i.e. t=z/λ. This would allow you to determine the time duration within an interval section by section and then add this to the previous ones to obtain the age of the respective layer. However, this would require a constant thickness per year for each interval. However, since this is most likely not the case, my next consideration was that the age must be the integral of a 1/λ(z) function, which I cannot model.
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