Melde’s Standing Wave: An Experiment in

Exploring the Theoretical and Applied Physical

Properties of Standing Waves

WANG Yang

11 March 2013
Contents
1 Abstract 2

2 Purpose 2

3 Theory 2
3.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3.2 Equations and Derivations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2.1 Speed, Wavelength and Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2.2 Speed and String Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

4 Experimental Set-Up 4

5 Experimental Procedures 5
5.1 Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.2 Part One: Relation Between Wavelength and Frequency . . . . . . . 5
5.3 Part Two: Relation between Wave Speed and String Density . . . . . 5

6 Results 6
6.1 Tabulate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.2 Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.2.1 Frequency vs Number of Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.2.2 Wavelength vs Number of Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.2.3 Wavespeed vs Number of Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.2.4 Frequency vs Hanging Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.2.5 Frequency Squared vs Hanging Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

7 Data Analysis 9
7.1 Deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.2 Uncertainties and Significant Figures Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

8 Error Propagation 10

9 Conclusion 11

10 Glossary 12

1
1 Abstract
Wave is, more than a form of oscillation and vibration, it can transport and
propagate through space-time with delivering of energy. Wave can be classified into
two types: mechanical wave and electromagnetic wave. No matter which form it is,
there are many common characteristics that wave all share, standing wave is one
phenomenon among it. In this experiment we will undergo the Melde Experiment
on standing wave, which was firstly done by German physicist Franz Melde. This
experiment attempted to demonstrate that mechanical waves undergo interference
phenomena. In the experiment, mechanical waves travelled in opposite directions
from immobile points, called nodes. These waves were called standing waves by
Melde since the position of the nodes and loops (points where the cord vibrated)
stayed static.
In this experiment, we will firstly review the underlying principles and theories
of standing wave, starting from the relation between speed(v), wavelength(λ) and
frequency(f ) and ending by the influence from string density. On this route, we will
explore how these variables are interconnected and which condition of the variables
combination(s) is/are the best for the formation of standing wave. Obviously, this
will be a tour de force and touch road as well, many interesting side issues will be
uncovered and probably being left unexplored. How ever, we hope that the unifying
view we present, based on the previous experiments designing of Franz Melde, will
clarify the various aspects of this most important class of wave phenomena.

2 Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to understand the relationship between the
frequency of standing wave, the wave length and the tension along the vibrating
string and how the speed of the wave in a string is affected by the aforementioned
variables.

3 Theory
3.1 Background
Standing wave is produced when two travelling waves, both has the same fre-
quency, speed and wavelength but travel in opposite directions of propagation, meet
and causing interference in the same medium. In this experiment we use a rigid end

2
for reflecting the travelling wave and form two waves that satisfy the aforementioned
conditions.

3.2 Equations and Derivations

3.2.1 Speed, Wavelength and Length
There are infinite conditions to generate a steady standing wave in this wave-
reflected-resonance model. We call the one with one segment only, or 2 nodes, as the
fundamental harmonic and the rests are named as overtones . If we take the
length of the string as L and the wavelength of the wave along the string as λ, the
frequency of the wave as f , it is obvious that the total length of the string is exactly
half of the wave length, therefore we have L = 12 λ1 , and f1 = 2Lv
.
Similarly, for the second harmonic(2 segments, 3 nodes), the distance that wave
propagated is always 2L and this equals to twice of the wavelength, i.e., 2λ, thus we
have L = λ2 and f2 = Lv .
For the third harmonic(3 segments, 4 nodes), we have L = 32 λ3 and f3 = 2L 3v
.
2v
For the fourth harmonic(4 segments, 5 nodes), we have L = 2λ4 amd f4 = L .
Follow the pattern of derivation, for the nt h harmonic (n segments, n + 1 nodes),
we have L = n2 λn and fn = 2Lnv
.
If the frequency, wavelength and speed are not satisfying any pairs of the equa-
tions above, we won’t be able to observe standing wave phenomena but only waves
in mixed mode.
Within a unit time, the distance that a wave travel is v and it is equal to the
production of frequency and wavelength, i.e. v = λ × f .

3.2.2 Speed and String Density

The speed of any type of wave is related to the wavelength and the frequency. If
we know the value of the two variables, we are able to calculate the speed. How ever
there is another way to determine the speed of wave along a string by introducing
the concept of Tension (F ) and Linear Density (µ).
The linear density is the mass per unit length and the tension is the force applied
in the string, the speed of wave is determined by the square root of the subtraction
of tension by linear density, i.e., √
F
v=
µ
In this experiment we use hanging mass (m) to indicate the tension in the string.

3
 As v = λf ,

√
F
λf = (1)
µ
F
λ2 f 2 = (2)
µ
F mg
f2 = 2
= (3)
µλ µλ2

for nth harmonic, as L = n2 λn , we have

mg
f2 = (4)
µ( 2L
n
)2
mgn2
= (5)
4µL
Denote:
f : driving frequency of the sine wave generator
g: acceleration due to gravity
m: total hanging mass
L: length of the string(vibrating part)
µ: linear density of the string
n: order of harmonic

4 Experimental Set-Up
The equipments for this experiment are:

Sine Wave Generator for generating stable and continuous sins wave

Pulley for hanging the balancing weights from the string end

Elastic String for the vibrating observation

Balancing Weights changing the hanging mass at the string end will give various
string tension

4
5 Experimental Procedures
5.1 Preparation
After measuring the length of the string and taken as L, attach the elastic string
onto the vibrating blade of the Sine Wave Generator, run it over the pulley and hang
150g mass on it. Turning on the Generator and adjust the knobs to test it.

5.2 Part One: Relation Between Wavelength and Frequency

In this part we will firstly test out the frequencies corresponding to first1 , second,
third and fourth harmonics. During the procedures we noticed that touching nodes
won’t affect the standing wave pattern from the vibrating blade to the touched node,
while all the nodes remaining behind will disappear. On the other hand, touching
points that are not nodes on the standing wave will influence the whole wave pattern
and results in a mixed mode of vibration. By using the equation v = λf we are able
to calculate the speed of wave in the different situations, which should be about the
same.
If the tension in the string is changed, i.t., the hanging mass is changed, the
standing wave patterns will surely be affected. We adjusted the hanging mass to
change the ”3-node-standingwave-pattern” to”4-node-standingwave-pattern” with-
out doing any adjustment on the amplitude and frequency in the generator preset.
After that the hanging mass that satisfying the condition was recorded and being
compared.

5.3 Part Two: Relation between Wave Speed and String

Density
In the second part we kept adding balancing weights to the hanging mass and ad-
just the generator spontaneously to get stable ”5-node-standingwave-pattern”. After
recording those relevant data in a table we compared the data of Frequency-Squared
f 2 (in Hz) and the hanging mass m(in Kg) to get linear graph, just as the theory part
predicted. The slope of the graph should be the linear density of the string. Compar-
ing the experimental linear density and the linear density calculated directly b taking
string mass over length to analyse the derivation of this part of the experiment.
1
or called fundamental

5
6 Results
6.1 Tabulate
Part One

L = 131cm = 1.31m, m = 150g = 0.15Kg

number of nodes frequency(Hz) λ(m) v(m/s)
2 7.2 2.620 18.864
3 14.5 1.310 18.995
4 21.6 0.873 18.857
5 28.8 0.665 19.152

Part Two

L = 1.31m, m0 = 51.14g = 0.05114Kg, String mass= 7.15g = 0.00715Kg, total

length= 1.63m, number of node= 5
mass(Kg) f (Hz) f 2 (Hz 2 )
0.05114 16.6 275.56
0.10114 23.4 547.56
0.15114 28.5 812.25
0.20114 33.9 1149.21
0.25114 37.0 1369.00
0.30114 40.2 1616.04
0.35114 48.3 2332.89

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6.2 Graph
6.2.1 Frequency vs Number of Nodes
30

25

20

15

10
.
.
2 nodes 3 nodes 4 nodes 5 nodes

6.2.2 Wavelength(λ) vs Number of Nodes

2.5

1.5

1
.
0.5 .
2 nodes 3 nodes 4 nodes 5 nodes

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6.2.3 Wavespeed(m/s) vs Number of Nodes

19.2

19.1

19

18.9
.
.
2 nodes 3 nodes 4 nodes 5 nodes

6.2.4 Frequency(Hz) vs Hanging Mass(Kg)

40

35

30

25

20
.
15 .
0.05114
0.10114
0.15114
0.20114
0.25114
0.30114

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6.2.5 Frequency Squared(Hz 2 ) vs Hanging Mass(Kg)

1,500

1,000

500
.
.
0.05114
0.10114
0.15114
0.20114
0.25114
0.30114

7 Data Analysis
In part two, the linear density of the string is
m0 0.00715Kg
µ= = = 4.3865 × 10−3 Kg/m
L0 1.63m

7.1 Deviation
By the equation provided in the lab instruction:

%Deviation = M easured−Actual
Actual
× 100%

The deviation calculated for part two is

5430 − 5207.45
× 100% = 4.29%
5207.45

7.2 Uncertainties and Significant Figures Analysis


Part One

 v2 = 18.864m/s

v3 = 19.126m/s

 v4 = 18.864m/s

v5 = 18.864m/s

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 From the two table it’s mot hard to noticed that the ratio of the frequencies for
2, 3, 4 and 5 node modes are proportional to the number of nodes in each round
of experiment. The wavespeed we gained by the product of wavelength and two
frequencies are almost the same except for the data from second round. The error
in the experiment might be caused by the restriction of the accuracy of the Fine
Frequency Knobs as it can only be adjusted in the accuracy of 0.1Hz.
Part Two
As we noticed that the weight of balancing weight plate may also cause experi-
mental errors, we weighed the plate that was used to balancing weights, which gave
1.14g.

8 Error Propagation
There are 3 variables in the experiment that needs to be analyzed with respect
to error propagation: mass of balancing weigh, gravity due to earth and length of
the string.
The balancing mass was weighed by the error 0.01g, we note it as ∆m and

∆m = ±0.01g

The error in gravity(g = 9.81m/s2 ) is 0.01m/s2 , therefore

∆g = ±0.01m/s2

The error in length of the string(L = 1.31m) is noted as

∆L = ±0.01m

As √
∆µ ∆Slope 2 ∆g 2 ∆L 2
=( ( ) +( ) + 2( ) )×4
µ Slope g L
On the other hand, √
∆µ ∆mn 2 ∆L 2
= ( ) +( )
µ mn L
We are able to calculate the error in linear density µ first:

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 √
∆µ 0.01 2 0.01 2
= ( ) +( )
µ 51.14 1.31
= 7.636 × 10−3
√
∆µ 0.01 2 0.01 2
= ( ) +( )
µ 101.14 1.31
= 7.634 × 10−3
√
∆µ 0.01 2 0.01 2
= ( ) +( )
µ 151.14 1.31
= 7.634 × 10−3
√
∆µ 0.01 2 0.01 2
= ( ) +( )
µ 201.14 1.31
= 7.634 × 10−3
√
∆µ 0.01 2 0.01 2
= ( ) +( )
µ 251.14 1.31
= 7.634 × 10−3
√
∆µ 0.01 2 0.01 2
= ( ) +( )
µ 301.14 1.31
= 7.634 × 10−3
∆µ
[ ]avg = 7.6343 × 10−3
µ
= 0.763%
Therefore there is an error of 0.763% in the final result.

9 Conclusion
In general, this experiment tested the relationship between the variables of a
standing wave and proved the theoretical prediction to be correct. It turned out to
be an endeavour on the road of perusing truth and fun as well.
In the error analysis and propagation part, the common measuring errors were
presented and acting as the inevitable part in the experiment.
In real life, standing wave can cause both negative and positively impact equally.
Walking across a bridge, for instance, can be quite dangerous with continuously

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and isophased steps, the energy accumulated from every single step will collapse
the bridge. How ever, in an oscillometer, the standing wave patterns generated by
electron beams with identical phases, wavelength and amplitude are used to examine
and identify the properties of circuits. By handling the energy of standing wave wisely
we are able to use it to meet our needs. Otherwise, it will be detrimental.

10 Glossary
Segment A segment is defined in a standing wave pattern as the portion from one
node to the node that is near to it.

Node A node is the point that does not vibrating on string in a standing wave
pattern. Touching node will not affect the vibrating pattern in front of it, i.e,
from wave generator to the node touched, how ever the resting part of the
string won’t show any standing wave pattern anymore.

Wave-reflected-resonance Model Using a fixed end and a wave generator to

generate standing wave with the wave resonance between positively propa-
gated wave and wave rewinding from the fixed end, this model is called Wave-
reflected-resonance Model.

Mixed Mode In standing wave experiment, when frequency of wave, wavespeed

and string length are not satisfying certain equation, the result will be a vi-
brating mode between two steady standing wave pattern, the mode is named
as Mixed Mode.

Linear Regression Linear regression is a statistical way to stimulate and estimate

the slope and intersect of a series of data that are not in linear relation(due to
experimental error), which should be in linear relation, though.

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