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A lab experiment on waves, focusing on longitudinal and transverse waves, their interference, and periodic waves. Students are required to perform various tasks such as observing wave behavior, measuring wave speed, and calculating experimental error. The document also includes instructions for producing standing waves.
What you will learn
Typology: Exams
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Stretch your spring out to a length of 6.1 meters (20 floor tiles, each floor tile is 0.305 meter), with one person at each end.
With your free hand, grasp the spring about 50 cm from the end. Pull the spring straight back towards the end of the spring, compressing the spring. Then release the spring, being careful not to let go of the end of the spring.
Move your hand very quickly and sharply to the right (about 30 cm out) and back to its original position. (Practice until you can produce a single large pulse that travels down only one side of the spring.)
Please be gentle with the springs. They are easily tangled and mangled. DO NOT overstretch the springs; they will become permanently deformed. Return them to their plastic bag when you are finished with the lab.
Repeat the procedure, only this time use a stopwatch to measure how long it takes for the wave pulse to travel from one end to the other and back. Record the data below, then calculate the speed of the wave. Next, stretch the spring out to 7.9 m (26 floor tiles), repeat the procedure, and calculate the velocity of the wave. Finally, shorten the spring to 4.9 m (16 floor tiles) and repeat.
Trial Length Time Velocity
16 tiles
20 tiles
26 tiles
In this section, you will be observing what happens when two transverse wave pulses meet each other. Move back to 20 tiles apart. The two people holding the ends of the spring will both send a single wave pulse at the same time, and you should observe what happens when the two waves meet in the middle.