The quantity that undergoes a red shift is...?

Question

The quantity that undergoes a red shift is

Wave frequency
wavelength
both
neither

I have no idea on this question...help would be greatly appreciated. If anyone could explain the answer that would help a lot.

thx

Answer 1

Both, since they are inverts of each other.
Red shift is the effect of frequencies from a moving object apparently being lower when it is going away.
The easiest way to think of it, is to imagine a person jumping rope on a flat car with the rope hitting bottom once a second. If the car began moving away, the sound of the rope hitting would happen further and further away, the interval (wavelength) of the thumps would get longer - a red shift.

Answer 2

wavelength, red shift has to do with the dopplar effect, (tip for the future, frequency NEVER changes, it's a constant for that equation) and say you've got a star moving away from you, therefor it appears red, it's not actually red but each pulse being emmitted is further away from the pulse that was emmitted before it than it should be, because the source is moving....I wish I could draw this for you, basically the crests of each wave are farther apart due to an increased wavelength, so it turns red.

Answer 3

Frequency. As the object is moving toward you (or away I forget reverse things in that case) the waves come more closely together, because the distance traveled by the wave causing object closes the gap.

EDIT: If that guy said both he's probably right. As the Frequency get closer together the wave is stretched away form the "center" of the wave, increasing the wavelength.

This is all off the top of my head, and probably does not make sense.

Answer 4

Both. Red shift lowers the frequency and increases the wavelength. These two functions are interrelated, and are inversely proportional..