National League for Nursing (NLN PAX) Practice Exam

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What term describes the number of complete waves passing a point in one second?

Amplitude
Frequency
Wavelength
Velocity

The correct answer is: Frequency

The term that describes the number of complete waves passing a point in one second is frequency. It is measured in hertz (Hz), where one hertz equals one cycle per second. In the context of waves, frequency indicates how often the peaks or troughs of the waves pass a given point within a unit of time, which is crucial in various fields such as physics, sound, and communications. Amplitude refers to the maximum displacement of a wave from its rest position, which indicates the strength or intensity of the wave but does not provide information about how many waves pass a point in a specific time frame. Wavelength is the distance between two successive crests (or troughs) of a wave, representing the length of one complete cycle of the wave, but again, it does not involve the time factor necessary for expressing the number of waves per second. Velocity refers to the speed at which the wave travels through a medium, which combines both frequency and wavelength but does not designate the number of waves crossing a point in a second individually.