Answer to Question #2800 in Mechanics | Relativity for Octavia LJ

Question

Suppose you are standing on a boat in the ocean looking out at a person swimming in the water. The waves swell under your boat at a frequency of 0.80 Hz, while traveling with a wave speed of 1.5 meters per second. At any given moment, you count that there are exactly 6 complete waves between you and the swimmer. How far away is the swimmer?

Answer 1

We have that frequency ν=0.8 Hz, and wave speed V = 1.5 m/s.
Then the wavelength
λ=V / ν = 1.5 / 0.8 = 1.875
Hence the distance between the boat and the swimmer is equal to
6 * λ = 6 * 1.875 = 11.25 m