Bill Nye Wave Video Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which comparison between radio waves and sound waves is accurate?
Both require air and travel at the same speed
Sound can cross empty space, but radio waves cannot
Radio waves can travel through a vacuum, while sound requires a medium
Radio waves are longitudinal vibrations of air particles
2. A cork bobs up and down as a water wave passes, but it ends near where it started. What does this best demonstrate?
A wave permanently transports each water particle with its crest
A wave transfers energy without carrying the water forward overall
Only the cork moves; the water particles remain completely still
The cork creates new water as it rises
3. Tuning fork A vibrates 256 times per second, while tuning fork B vibrates 512 times per second. How will B usually sound compared with A?
Higher in pitch, because it has a greater frequency
Lower in pitch, because its vibrations are closer together
Quieter, because it completes more vibrations
The same in pitch, because both are tuning forks
4. An alarm clock is ringing inside a sealed chamber. As nearly all the air is removed, its sound becomes impossible to hear outside. Why?
Removing air reduces the alarm's frequency to zero
Sound needs a material medium through which to travel
Vacuum absorbs sound more strongly than air does
Sound changes into visible light when air pressure falls
5. A water wave enters a slower-moving region at an angle. Which outcome best illustrates refraction?
The wave disappears as soon as it reaches the boundary
The wave returns through the original region at the same angle
The wave changes speed and bends as it crosses the boundary
The wave keeps exactly the same speed and direction
6. A child on a swing is pushed at regular intervals that match the swing's natural rhythm. Each push makes the motion larger. What is occurring?
Resonance
Refraction
Polarization
Rarefaction
7. In a longitudinal sound wave, what are compressions and rarefactions?
The highest and lowest pitches produced by the source
Places where sound changes into electromagnetic energy
Regions where particles are crowded together and spread farther apart
Fixed endpoints that prevent particles from vibrating
8. Four waves are measured from their equilibrium lines to their crests. Which one has the greatest amplitude?
The wave measuring 2 cm from equilibrium to crest
The wave measuring 4 cm from equilibrium to crest
The wave measuring 3 cm from equilibrium to crest
The wave measuring 5 cm from equilibrium to crest
9. Why does an acoustic guitar's hollow body make a vibrating string easier to hear?
The body changes every string to the same frequency
The body and surrounding air resonate, moving more air than the string alone
The body converts the string's vibration entirely into electrical energy
The body prevents the string from transferring energy to the air
10. A pulse travels forward along a rope while each part of the rope moves from side to side. How should this wave be classified?
An electromagnetic wave, because the pulse carries energy
A longitudinal wave, because the rope and pulse share the same direction
A standing wave, because the pulse remains in one place
A transverse wave, because the rope moves perpendicular to the pulse
11. A guitarist presses a string against a higher fret, shortening the portion that can vibrate. If tension stays about the same, what happens to the note?
It becomes lower because the string has less room to move
It becomes higher because the shorter section vibrates faster
It becomes quieter because wavelength cannot change
It keeps the same pitch but lasts longer
12. A guitarist plucks the same string more forcefully without changing its length or tension. What primarily increases?
The frequency of the vibration
The wavelength set by the vibrating string length
The speed of sound in the surrounding air
The amplitude and perceived loudness
13. A person shouts toward a distant canyon wall and hears the sound again a moment later. Which wave behavior produced the echo?
Reflection
Diffraction
Refraction
Destructive interference
14. Two otherwise identical water waves meet so that the crest of one aligns with the trough of the other. What can happen at that location?
They partially or completely cancel through destructive interference
Their frequencies permanently double
They stop carrying energy and become matter
Their amplitudes always combine into a larger crest
15. Twelve complete wave cycles pass a fixed point in three seconds. What is the frequency?
3 hertz
36 hertz
9 hertz
4 hertz
16. What is the wavelength of a repeating wave?
The number of complete cycles passing a point each second
The time required for one complete cycle
The distance between corresponding points on successive cycles
The maximum displacement from the equilibrium position