What property of a wave describes how often it occurs?

1 Answer
Feb 7, 2018

Frequency

Explanation:

Frequency describes the number of times the wave cycles every second. If the wave was produced by a mechanical source (like a sound wave) this is also the frequency of oscillation of the source.

So, it makes sense to speak of the frequency of vibration of a guitar string for example, and also of the frequency of the particular sound it produces. This frequency produces the familiar characteristic we call the pitch of the sound.