Assorted Physics Questions

1. What conditions must be met to produce simple harmonic motion?
2. As you pass a semitractor-trailer on an interstate, you notice that its trailer is bouncing up and down slowly. Is it more likely that the trailer is heavily loaded or nearly empty? Explain.
3. When sound passes from one medium to another where its speed is different, does its frequency or wavelength change? Explain briefly.
4.Dolphins make sounds in air and water. What is the ratio of the wavelength of a sound in air to its wavelength in water? Assume the air temperature is 20.0 degrees C. (Hint: you must look up the speed of sound in air and in water to answer this question.)
5. Radio waves transmitted by an FM transmitter have a frequency of 89.90 MHz. What is the wavelength of these waves? (Radio waves, like all electromagnetic waves, travel at the speed of light.)
6. Consider the equation

f(x) = A sin(kx - omega t)
where I have used the word "omega" instead of the Greek symbol, on account of browser compatability problems. This describes a wave propagating along the x-axis. (A) What is the meaning of the constant "A"? (B) Is this wave traveling in the positive direction or the negative direction? (C) "k" is called the propagation number (and has other names.) If "k" has a value of 12.6 per meter, what is the wavelength of the wave? (D) "Omega" is called the angular frequency. If "omega" has a value of 400 radians per second, what is the frequency ("f") of the wave?

7. What happens to the intensity of a wave if you double the amplitude, "A"?