Question

A steel wire has a length of 12.0 m and a mass of 2.10 kg. What should be the tension in the wire so that speed of a transverse wave on the wire equals the speed of sound in dry air at 20 °C = 343 m s–1.

Answer 1

Here,
Velocity of the wave ( V) = 343 m/s
Tension ( T) = ?
Mass density ( u) = 2.10/12
= 0.175 kg/m

Speed of transverse wave in wire
V = √{T/u}
T = V² × u
= (343)² × 0.175
= 20588.575 N
= 2.06 × 10⁴ N