Serway & Jewett — Wave Motion: Problem 12

Why is the following situation impossible? An astronaut on the Moon is studying wave motion using the apparatus discussed in Example 16.3 and shown in Figure 16.12. He measures the time interval for pulses to travel along the horizontal wire. Assume the horizontal wire has a mass of 4.00 g and a length of 1.60 m and assume a 3.00-kg object is suspended from its extension around the pulley. The astronaut finds that a pulse requires 26.1 ms to traverse the length of the wire.