Halliday, Resnick & Walker — Waves–II: Problem 82

A continuous sinusoidal longitudinal wave is sent along a very long coiled spring from an attached oscillating source. The wave travels in the negative direction of an x axis; the source frequency is 25 Hz; at any instant the distance between successive points of maximum expansion in the spring is 24 cm; the maximum longitudinal displacement of a spring particle is 0.30 cm; and the particle at x = 0 has zero displacement at time t = 0. If the wave is written in the form \(s(x, t) = s_m \cos(kx \pm \omega t)\), what are (a) \(s_m\), (b) \(k\), (c) \(\omega\), (d) the wave speed, and (e) the correct choice of sign in front of \(\omega\)?