A metallic wire of 1 m length has a mass of $10 \times 10^{-3}\text{ kg}$. If a tension of 100 N is applied…

A metallic wire of 1 m length has a mass of $10 \times 10^{-3}\text{ kg}$. If a tension of 100 N is applied to a wire, what is the speed of transverse wave?
  1. 100 $\text{ms}^{-1}$
  2. 10 $\text{ms}^{-1}$
  3. 200 $\text{ms}^{-1}$
  4. 0.1 $\text{ms}^{-1}$

Solution

The linear mass density is defined as a measure of mass per unit of length. $\therefore$ Linear mass density, $\alpha = \frac{\text{Mass}}{\text{Length}} = \frac{10 \times 10^{-3}}{1}$ $= 10 \times 10^{-3}\text{ kg m}^{-1}$ $\therefore$ The speed of transverse wave, $v = \sqrt{\frac{T}{\alpha}}$ (where, $\alpha = \text{volume per unit} \times \text{density}$) $= \sqrt{\frac{100}{10 \times 10^{-3}}} = \sqrt{10 \times 10^3} = 1 \times 10^2 = 100\text{ ms}^{-1}$

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