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Waves Lab

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59 views6 pages

Waves Lab

Uploaded by

Charles McIntosh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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St.G.C.

Science Department
CAPE Physics – Unit 1
Graded Assessment

Properties of a Wave on a String


Aim
To explore the following for a wave on a string:
i. Frequency, Wavelength, and Wave Speed
ii. Reflection
iii. Superposition
iv. Damping
Apparatus
Computer simulation: Phet – Wave on a String
Procedure
To start with, learn the use/function of the various control buttons on the computer screen. Press the Show
Help, Rulers and Timer buttons on the top RHS. Then, play with the 3 buttons on the bottom LHS: Manual,
Oscillate & Pulse along with the 3 buttons on the bottom RHS: Fixed End, Loose End, No End. Finally, learn
the use of the following buttons at the bottom: Reset & Pause/Play. When you click the button Pause, a
new button Step appears, which allows you to analyze things one step at a time.

To start with, keep the Amplitude and Frequency buttons at 50, Damping button at zero and Tension
button at high.

Fundamentals of Wave Motion


1. Select Oscillate on the LHS and No End on the RHS

2. Click Play
You will see a wave moving from the LHS to the RHS. When you want to make a measurement, click
Pause.

3. Use the Step button to bring the crest of the wave to any convenient point.
4. Using the Rulers and the Timer, analyze the wave and determine the following for it, in both
magnitude and unit.

i. Amplitude, A = 0.012m

ii. Wavelength, λ = 0.124m


1
iii. Period, T = time for a peak to travel a distance of 1 λ = 0.5s
FrequencT
y, f = = 0.25Hz
1
iv.
travel
=

v. Wave speed, v = 0.06

vi. Wave speed , v (calculated) = f λ = 0.031m/s

Reflection
1. Select Pulse on the LHS and Fixed End on the RHS
2. Choose the Amplitude to be 0.75cm
3. Click the green button Pulse once to get a triangular pulse, and see what happens at the RHS fixed
end.
4. Answer the following questions, based on your observation:
i. Does the reflection change the speed or amplitude of the wave pulse? The reflection does not change
the amplitude or speed of the pulse.

ii. Is the wave pulse reflected with the same orientation that it had originally, or is it inverted? The pulse
is inverted.

5. Now, change the RHS from Fixed End to Loose End, send a pulse and see what happens at the RHS
Loose End.
6. Answer the following questions, based on your observation:
i. Does the reflection change the speed or amplitude of the wave pulse? The pulse does not change in
speed or amplitude.
ii. Is the wave pulse reflected with the same orientation that it had originally, or is it inverted? The pulse
is reflected in the same orientation.

2
Superposition
In this exercise, you will explore what happens when two wave pulses superpose/add up.
1. Choose Pulse on the LHS and Loose End on the RHS

2. Leave the Amplitude at 0.75cm as before.


3. Click the green button Pulse once and immediately press the Pause button.
4. Click the green button Pulse again.
5. Now, you will see 2 pulses. When they are about to meet, click the Pause button.
6. Using the Step button, analyze what happens when the two pulses just overlap. 7.
Answer the following questions, based on your observation:

i. What is the amplitude of the resultant pulse when both the pulses have the same orientation?

Higher

ii. What is the amplitude of the resultant pulse when both the pulses have the opposite orientation?

Almost zero

8. Repeat the above exercise, with the first pulse’s amplitude at 0.75cm and the second pulse’s
amplitude at 1.00cm
9. Answer the following questions, based on your observation:
i. What is the amplitude of the resultant pulse when both the pulses have the same orientation?

The amplitude of the resultant pulse is higher with a amplitude of 1.75 cm.

ii. What is the amplitude of the resultant pulse when both the pulses have the opposite orientation?

The amplitude of the resultant pulse is smaller with it being 0.25 cm.
3
Effect of Damping
So far, you kept the Damping at zero. What happens when it is not zero?
1. Select the Oscillate mode on the LHS and the No End on the RHS.
2. Keep the Amplitude at 1.00cm and Frequency at 0.75Hz
3. See the effect of damping for Damping values of 0, 20, 50 and 100
Quantitatively, in the presence of damping, the amplitude of the wave decreases with time
as:A = Aoe−λt

where,

Ao is the initial amplitude at t = 0


λ is a constant
Plotting A versus t will give an exponential decay; it won’t be a straight line! Placing the equation in the
form y = mx + c we get:

ln A = ln Ao + ln(e−λt)

ln A = ln Ao + (−λt)
Rearranging, you get:
ln A = (−λ)t + ln Ao

To investigate this exponential decay, keep Damping at 30.


4. Press the Play button.
5. When you see that the wave has progressed all the way to the No End, press the Pause button. 6.
Carefully use the Step button until the green spot on top of the wrench is at its maximum height Ao 7.
You can now measure the amplitudes at 5 crest values and 4 trough values
Note that these are separated in time by T/2, where T is the period i.e. the time taken by a peak to
travel one wavelength
8. Tabulate your data neatly in the table below
9. Plot ln A vs t
10. Obtain the value of λ from the graph

4
Run Time, t Amplitude, A ln A

(seconds) (cm)

1 0 1 0

2 0.67 0.8 -0.2231

3 1.33 0.7 -0.3567

4 1.99 0.6 -0.5108

5 2.66 0.5 -0.6931

6 3.33 0.4 -0.9163

7 3.99 0.38 -0.9676

8 4.66 0.22 -1.5141

9 5.32 0.1 -1.6094


y=mx+c
Lamda = 0.199s-1

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