A cello string 0.95 m long has a 220 Hz fundamental frequency. Find the wave speed along the vibrating string?

Question

how is it zero, please explain.

Im sorry, I forgot to say that it wanted the answer in m/s. would it still be zero?

i got that answer wrong.

Answer 1

Trick question.

The fundamental frequency of a string on cello, or a piano for that matter, is a "standing wave."

It's speed is, for all practical purposes, zero.

Since both ends of a cello string are "fixed", and because the "fundamental wavelength" is exactly the length of the string; therefore, the wave CANNOT propagate forwards or backwards.

Edit: this is not to say that the speed of the string itself is zero, only that the wave is fixed in place and doesn't move forwards or backwards.

~W.O.M.B.A.T.