## happykiddo one year ago The speed of a wave pulse on a string depends on the tension, F, in the string and the mass per unit length, μ, of the string. Tension has SI units of kg.m.s-2 and the mass per unit length has SI units of kg.m-1 What combination of F and μ must the speed of the wave be proportional to?

1. happykiddo

answer is( F / μ) i just don't know why

2. anonymous

what's u stand for in that regard?

3. anonymous

coefficient for what

4. happykiddo

its the symbol for Mu

5. anonymous

I don't know what that means

6. anonymous

so tell me

7. anonymous

Hey without you telling me the background info of the question I cannot hel you

8. happykiddo

sorry my computer battery turned off, Mu is mass/length string

9. anonymous

Basically the mas each unit of length consists of.

10. anonymous

Ok tenser the line greater the velocity at which the wave transfers from position A to position B is that what you are not quite on the spot

11. anonymous

Greater the mass of the line per unit of length harder it is for the pulse to traverse because it takes greater energy to move greater mass to transfer the pulse.

12. happykiddo

Thank you for the help : )

13. happykiddo

F/u was incorrect

14. happykiddo

its sqrt(T/u)

15. anonymous

but you still get the idea.

16. anonymous

this is a dimensional analysis problem. You actually have to write out the dimensions to figure out the equation. You're trying to combine the units of T and µ to give m/s, the unit of speed. Both T and µ have units of kg, but speed doesn't, so you know it they must be divided so the kg will cancel. $\frac{ [T] }{ [\mu] }=\frac{ \frac{ kg-m }{ s^2 } }{ \frac{ kg }{ m } }=\frac{ m^2 }{ s^2 }$ The unit you want is m/s, so you have to take the square root. $[v]=\sqrt{\frac{ m^2 }{ s^2 }}=\frac{ m }{ s }$ $v \propto \sqrt{\frac{ T }{ \mu }}$