A student moves the end of a compressed, coiled spring, and down to demonstrate wave motion. She then moves the compressed, coiled spring faster, but keeps everything else, the same, which characteristic will increase.
If the student moves the compressed, coiled spring faster while keeping everything else the same, the characteristic that will increase is the frequency of the wave. The frequency of a wave is determined by the number of complete cycles or vibrations that occur in a given time period. When the student moves the spring faster, it results in more cycles of compression and expansion occurring in a given time, which leads to an increased frequency of the wave.
