Class Group: S39

Lab Group no: 2

CENTRE OF FOUNDATION STUDIES

FOUNDATION PHYSICS I
LABORATORY REPORT

Experiment Standing Waves

Name Aidil Afiq bin Abdul Rafar
Student ID 2023835398
Lab Instructor’s Name Madam Nurkhaizan binti Zulkepli
Date of Experiment 21st August 2023
Member 1 Hanis Syaffira binti Shafien
2023825162
Member 2 Puteri Nur Ameera binti Megat Ahmad Shah
2023824598
Member 3 Noor Suhailah Diyana binti Mohamad
2023824824
Member 4 Ahmad Daniel Aizat bin Mohd Nazir
2023834938
Marks

Comment
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the linear relationship between the length and the
fundamental frequency of open at one end tube system by using resonant tube apparatus. Aside from
that, this experiment is carried out to determine the speed of sound in open at one end tube system.
We have picked out five different frequency of tuning forks and were striked repeatedly on a rubber
hammer then quickly brought the fork over the mouth of glass tube.

INTRODUCTION
A pulse runs down the length of a string when it is shaken. The pulse can be reflected when it reaches
the end. A series of regularly occurring pulses will generate travelling waves that interfere with
approaching waves after reflection from the opposite end. When the conditions are beneficial, these
waves' superposition in opposite directions can produce a standing wave.
Standing waves can also be created in an air column in a tube. These standing waves cause the tones
generated by wind instruments.

Standing waves can be set up in a tube system either closed at one end or open at both ends.
For a close at one end system, the closed part will be filled with water. The sound wave that travels in
the tube will get reflected and interfere with its initial incidence wave, thus creating a standing wave
that undergoes a phase change of 180° and are completely out of phase with the incident waves.
Therefore, the combined amplitude of the incident and reflected waves must be zero at the closed end
of the tube. A point in space with wave amplitude zero at all times is called a node, N. From similar
considerations of the relative phase between the incident and reflected waves, at the open end of the
tube, the wave amplitude must always be a maximum, and is called an antinode, A. A sound will be
heard at the right frequency and distance (length of the air column. This is the first harmonic of a
standing wave produced.

Resonance may occur when a forced vibration frequency matches with the natural frequency of the
system. Air can resonate as well. The open tube system that applies resonating air are flute and soda
pop bottles. In a closed at one end tube system, resonance first occurs when the length of air column is
one-fourth the wavelength of the standing wave. The sound wave is produced by using vibrating
objects such as a tuning fork. This vibrating object will cause the surrounding air molecules to vibrate.
The air molecules will then get compressed and rarefied while the tuning fork vibrates. A series of
compression and rarefaction will produce a longitudinal sound wave where the compression part will
be the crest and the rarefaction will be the wave's trough.
OBJECTIVES
1. To investigate the linear relationship between the length, l and the fundamental frequency f of
open at one end tube system.
2. To determine the speed of sound in open at one end tube system.

APPARATUS
Resonant tube apparatus, set of tuning forks(341.3Hz-512Hz) and rubber hammer.

METHODOLOGY
The funnel of the apparatus was filled with water and the water level was adjusted until the funnel
was essentially empty when the tube was almost full. The water level in the tube came to at least
within 0.05m of the open-end tube. This experiment was started with the highest frequency tuning
fork by striking it repeatedly on rubber hammer and quickly brought the fork over the mouth of the
glass tube. The end of vibrating fork was ensured to be perpendicular to the mouth of tube. Next, the
water level in the glass tube was slowly lowered while listened for resonance to occur until we heard
an increase in the sound volume. The height of the air column was recorded in data table. Several
trials were tried by raising and lowering the water level to obtain another two readings of length, l.
The frequency of tuning fork was recorded in data table. These steps were repeated by using another
four subsequent frequencies of tuning fork.

RESULTS

Frequency, f Length, l (cm) Average 1/frequency (s)

(Hz) Reading 1 Reading 2 Reading 3 Length (cm)
512 16.5 16.2 16.6 16.43 1.95x10^-3
480 18.0 17.2 17.6 17.60 2.08x10^-3
426.6 19.7 20.0 20.0 19.90 2.34x10^-3
384 22.4 22.5 21.6 22.20 2.60x10^-3
341.3 25.4 25.1 25.2 25.23 2.93x10^-3
ANALYSIS
In this experiment, we plotted a graph of l against 1/f to measure the gradient, m. From the gradient
measured we can find the speed of waves for different length. The calculations of the gradient are as
follows:

1. Conversion of SI unit for the average length

Average for frequency of;

512.00 Hz = (16.43cm) x (1m/100cm) = 0.16m

480.00 Hz = (17.60 cm) x (1m/100cm) = 0.18m
426.60 Hz = (19.90 cm) x (1m/100cm) = 0.20m
384.00 Hz = (22.20cm) x (1m/100cm) = 0.22m
341.43 Hz = (25.23) x (1m/100cm) = 0.25m

2. Plot a graph of l against 1/f

3. From the graph above, calculate the speed of the wave, v by finding the gradient, m of the the
graph.

(0.25−0.16)�
Gradient of the graph, m = (0.00293−0.00195)�
= 91.84
 4. From the relation between rate of change of length and its period. We can deduce that;

∆ �����ℎ(�) �
Gradient, m = ∆ ������(�)
= 1/f
�
m = 1/�
�
l= �

m = fl

5. From the new equation above we can relate it with the theoretical formula for finding speed
of wave.

Theoritical formula given,

�
l = 4�

v = 4f l

Then, substitute the new formula of gradient into the latest formula of speed of wave above. Hence,
the final equation would be,

v = 4m
v = 4(91.84)
v = 367.36 m/s

PERCENTAGE ERROR

367.36−343
Percentage Error = 343
x 100% = 7.10%
DISCUSSION

This experiment was started by picking a tuning fork with a frequency range of 512 Hz to 341.43 Hz
that is in good condition for your experiment. To start the vibrations, lightly strike the fork against a
soft surface or use a rubber hammer. Adjust the distance between the vibrating fork and the resonant
device until you discover the strongest resonance, which is generally represented by increased sound
or loudness.

When tuning fork was striking by a rubber hammer, it produced vibrations that create sound waves
that propagate through the air. The tube acts as a medium for the propagation of the sound wave. As
the sound waves travel down the tube, they reach the surface of the water (which is normally near the
bottom of the tube). Because of the change in loudness at the water-air contact, some of the sound
waves are reflected upwards at this point. The reflected waves go back up the tube, interfering with
the initial sound waves produced by the tuning fork. Constructive and destructive interference can
occur depending on the length of the tube and the frequency of the tuning fork. This interference
pattern might cause standing waves to occur within the tube. Resonance occurs when the length of the
tube is such that it maintains a standing wave at the same frequency as the vibrations of the tuning
fork. This occurs when the amplitude of the standing wave exceeds that of the incident waves, and a
loud sound can be heard.

When you plot the length (L) vs 1/f graph, you should see a straight line that passes through the origin
(0,0). The speed of sound (v) in the medium determines the gradient of this line. The gradient of the
graph can be used to compute the speed of sound in air, which is a common goal in resonance tube
investigations. The graph of length (L) vs 1/f in a resonance tube experiment shows a linear
connection, and the gradient of the line provides useful information regarding the speed of sound in
the medium under consideration.

At the end of this experiment, we calculated the percentage error for the measured speed of sound and
the theoretical speed of sound which is 7.10%. The background noises generated throughout the
experiment could be a cause of mistake in this experiment. When the background noise is too loud,
the sound of the resonance may not be clearly heard, which may interfere with the length recorded.
This error can be avoided by conducting the experiment in a quiet environment. Another factor of
error is estimation error that can occur when reading measurements on some instruments such as
reading a ruler during the measurement of length of air section of the resonance tube.

CONCLUSION
We can conclude that the relationship between the length of air column and the fundamental of
frequency is achieved by the linear graph that was obtained from this experiment. The relationship
between the length of air column is inversely proportional to the fundamental of frequency at open
one end tube system. The speed of sound wave that we obtained from the graph is 367.36 m/s with the
percentage error of 7.10% which is less than 10%. We can say that the experiment that we have done
is least accurate because of certain errors that happened during the experiment.
POST-LAB QUESTIONS

1. Indicate true or false in each of the following statement:

(a) A standing wave is the superposition of two waves – True
(b) The third harmonic is three times the frequency of the fundamental – True
2. The speed of sound waves in air is found to be 343 m/s. Determine the fundamental frequency
(1st harmonic of an open-end air column that has a length of 67.5 cm).

3. Sketch the standing waves in a tube which is open at both ends for the first harmonic.

4. A tube is 3.5 m long. Determine the frequency of the first harmonic if the tube is open at both
ends. Taken the speed of sound in air is 343 m/s.
REFERENCES

Vibrations and Waves - Lesson 4 - Standing Waves

Practices of Science: Scientific Error

Foundation Physics I - PHY 094 Laboratory Manual. (2023).