Physics 1B

Transverse Wave Motion

March 12, 2014








Lab group 5
Wooyoung Jang
Stefhany Torres
William Randazzo
Free Trip



Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is for student to understand and experiment on
transverse wave motion of a string-and-mass system using the gravity. Through this
experiment, student should be able to obtain experimental gravitation force, cause by the
electronic oscillator and the gravitational forces acted on the Pasadena City College.
(Pasadena City College because, depending on the location, gravitational force might
change just a little.)

Equipment:
Measuring tape (001013)
String
Electronic oscillator (046553)
Weights
Pulley
A rod
Hook

Procedure:
First obtain a long string with distance greater than the desk.
Attach the pulley at one end of the desk.
On the other side of the desk use a clamp and rod to attach electronic oscillator
Making sure that pulley and the electronic oscillator are inline and about the same
height.
Measure the length of the string using the measuring tape. This is length L.
Measure the mass of the string (m).
Also measure the length of the string that goes from the pulley to the oscillator (l)
Tie a nod and attach the nod of the string to the hook.
Also tie the string to the electronic oscillator.
Attach some weights to the string that is off the edge of the pulley (M).
Adjust the weights until the loop is the largest and easily visible.
Count these loops from the beginning of the pulley to the electronic oscillator.
Now keep adding more weights to get seven good complete loops.
Record the weight and the number of loops created each seven weights added.
Put the data into excel and calculate the slope.








Data:
Frequency of vibrator (f) = 120 Hz = 120 1/s
Length of string (L) = 553.1 cm
Mass of string (m) = 0.80 g
Length of string from vibrator to pulley (l) = 430.0 cm


Trial # Mass M
0.01 (g)
Number of
loops (n)
Wavelength
(cm)
wavelength squared
(m)
1 130.00 g 11 78.18 cm
0.1 cm
0.6112 m
2 160.00 g 10 86.00 cm
0.1 cm
0.7396 m
3 250.00 g 8 107.5 cm
0.1 cm
1.1556 m
4 320.00 g 7 122.9 cm
0.1 cm
1.251 m
5 410.00 g 6 143.3 cm
0.1 cm
2.054 m
6 600.00 g 5 172.0 cm
0.1 cm
2.958 m
7 970.00 g 4 215.0 cm 4.623 m
0.1 cm

Graph:






Analysis:

The standard curve equation given by the linear regression of the data points in the
graph wavelength squared () vs. mass (M) is y=4.83934x-0.0098. This corresponds
to the equation=Mg/[(m/L)f], where y = and x = M. Therefore we can see that
the slope 4.83934=g/[(m/L)f]. We can analyze our observations and the accuracy of
our experiment by comparing the value for gravity found when solving for it in the
previous slope equation with the accepted value for gravitational acceleration. By
solving for g=4.83934mf/L we obtain a value for gravity that is 10.1 m/s. This
results in a percent error of 2.93%. This shows that the experiment accurately
represented the change in wavelength along a string as the tension changed due to the
addition or subtraction of weights.
y = 4.8394x - 0.0098

0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50
W
a
v
e
l
e
n
g
t
h

(
m

)


Mass (kg)
Wavelength ()vs. Mass (M)
Series1
Linear (Series1)




Sample calculations/wave theory:

The formula is derived from the following:
v=f where v=
-

Therefore (f )=Mg/(m/L)

Gravity experimental:
Wavelength: g=4.83934mf/L
( g=4.83934(.00080)(120)/5.531
( g=10.0795 m/s 10.1m/s
215.0 cm =

Percent error:

e= [(g-g)/g] x 100%
e= [(10.1-9.79)/9.79]x100%
e=2.925% 2.93%

Discussion:
In this experiment we calculated the experimental acceleration of gravity to be

and then compared it to the accepted acceleration of gravity which is
9.79

. This yielded a percent error of 2.93% which is well below our goal percent
error of 5%. This error could have occurred because of inaccuracies when counting the
number of loops. When a certain mass was attached we found that it would not produce a
complete loop at the far end of the string. This could have caused some discrepancies in
our calculations based on whether we accounted for the incomplete loop at the end of the
string or not. This could be prevented by testing different masses and choosing masses
that only produce complete loops.

Conclusion:

This experiment allowed us to test the validity of the formulas for wave motion by
calculating an experimental acceleration of gravity and comparing it to the known
standard value. Since our percent error was 2.93% we can conclude that the formulas for
wave motion are accurate and valid.