A LITTLE THING ABOUT WAVES Ripple Tank Wave Phenomena Maximize Print [L | t+ | ] | keywords: Huygen's Principle, transverse waves,

interference, diffraction, refraction, reflection, standing waves, total internal reflection, ripple tank Interference patterns of water waves generated by different sources at adjustable frequency.

What It Shows Various wave phenomena demonstrated with water waves: circular waves from point sources, plane waves from an array of point sources, change of wavelength with frequency and/or speed, reflection of waves, refraction of

waves, focusing of waves, standing waves, interference from point sources, interference and diffraction from apertures, obstacles, and barriers, phased arrays of sources (directional plane waves), beating phenomenon, doppler shift, and shock waves.

How It Works A shallow, one square meter glass-bottomed tank is filled with a couple inches of water. A dipper, suspended from an 8 Ohm speaker driver, is partially submerged. When the driver is driven by a function generator, the dipper causes ripples in the water. To show these ripples, bright light from a xenon arc lamp shines through the tank's glass bottom, reflects off a one square meter front surface

mirror, and illuminates a large, thin screen that hangs vertically. The height of the driver above the water can be adjusted to accommodate different dippers. A sphere can be used as a point source. A horizontal dowel can produce coherent parallel wavefronts. Several variations exist. Obstacles can be placed to interact with the rippling water; a single barrier can show edge diffraction; multiple barriers can show sinlge or multi-slit patterns; a triangluar peice of plexiglass acts as a prism; a convex peice brings the wavefronts to a focus. Setting It Up The apparatus is large and heavy. Extra time should be allowed for wheeling it into a hall. The mirror and screen can block a significant portion of the blackboard, so if one plans to use the boards the apparatus should be placed off to the side. The angle of the mirror should be adjusted so that the entire tank is visible on the screen. Make sure the entire class can view the image on the screen. Once the apparatus is set in position, fill the tank with about an inch of water. Place absorbent rags along the perimeter of the tank

to prevent unwanted reflections. When preparing for a demonstration of refraction, use the leveling scews near each edge of the tank to make sure it is perfectly level, and be careful to add just enough water to cover the inserted plastic. After use the water can be drained through a hose attached to one of the corners of the tank. The dipper should be only partly submerged. Adjust the height of the driver as necessary. Start by driving the dipper at a small amplitude and slowly increase it until distortion or splashing occurs, and then back it off from that point. Higher frequencies will generally cause distortion with less amplitude, so sweeping up in frequency should be compensated by reducing the amplitude slightly. The xenon arc lamp requires a fan to keep it cool, and should always be running when the lamp is onIn physics and engineering, a ripple tank is a shallow glass tank of water used in schools and colleges to demonstrate the basic properties of waves. It is a specialized form of a wave tank. The ripple tank is usually illuminated from above, so that the light shines through the water. Some small ripple tanks fit onto the top of an overhead projector, i.e. they are illuminated from below. The ripples on the water show up as shadows on the screen underneath

the tank. All the basic properties of waves, including reflection, refraction, interference and diffraction, can be demonstrated. Ripples may be generated by a piece of wood that is suspended above the tank on elastic bands so that it is just touching the surface. Screwed to wood is a motor that has an off centre weight attached to the axle. As the axle rotates the motor wobbles, shaking the wood and generating ripples.

Close-up of the oscillating paddle Demonstrating wave properties [edit] A number of wave properties can be demonstrated with a ripple tank. These include plane waves, reflection, refraction, interference and diffraction. Circular waves [edit]

Ripple tank with a spherical source producing circular waves When the rippler is attached with a point spherical ball and lowered so that it just touches the surface of the water, circular waves will be produced. Plane waves [edit]

Image of plane waves. When the rippler is lowered so that it just touches the surface of the water, plane waves will seen to be produced. (In the illustration, the brown rectangle is the rippler). Reflection [edit] Demonstrating reflection and focusing of mirrors [edit]

By placing a metal bar in the tank and tapping the wooden bar a pulse of three of four ripples can be sent towards the metal bar. The ripples reflect from the bar. If the bar is placed at an angle to the wavefront the reflected waves can be seen to obey the law of reflection. The angle of incidence and angle of reflection will be the same.

If a concave parabolic obstacle is used, a plane wave pulse will converge on a point after reflection. This point is the focal point of the mirror. Circular waves can be produced by dropping a single drop of water into the ripple tank. If this is done at the focal point of the "mirror" plane waves will be reflected back. Refraction [edit]

If a sheet of glass is placed in the tank, the depth of water in the tank will be shallower over the glass than elsewhere. The speed of a wave in water depends on the depth, so the ripples slow down as they pass over the glass. This causes the wavelength to decrease. If the junction between the deep and shallow water is at an angle to the wavefront, the waves will refract. In the diagram above, the waves can be seen to bend towards the normal. The normal is shown as a dotted line. The dashed line is the direction that the waves would travel if they had not met the angled piece of glass. In practice, showing refraction with a ripple tank is quite tricky to do. The sheet of glass needs to be quite thick, with the water over it as shallow as possible. This maximizes the depth difference and so causes a greater velocity difference and therefore greater angle.

 If the water is too shallow, viscous drag effects cause the ripples to disappear very quickly. The glass should have smooth edges to minimise reflections at the edge. Diffraction [edit] If a small obstacle is placed in the path of the ripples, and a slow frequency is used, there is no shadow area as the ripples refract around it, as shown below on the left. A faster frequency may result in a shadow, as shown below on the right. If a large obstacle is placed in the tank, a shadow area will probably be observed.

Numerical approximation of diffraction pattern from a slit of width equal to five times the wavelength of an incident plane wave in 3D spectrum visualization

Numerical approximation of diffraction pattern from a slit of width equal to wavelength of an incident plane wave in 3D spectrum visualization

If an obstacle with a small gap is placed in the tank the ripples emerge in an almost semicircular pattern. If the gap is large however, the diffraction is much more limited. Small, in this context, means that the size of the obstacle is comparable to the wavelength of the ripples.

See also: Huygen's principle Diffraction from a grid [edit] A phenomenon identical to the x-ray diffraction of xrays from an atomic crystal lattice can also be seen, thus demonstrating the principles of crystallography. If one lowers a grid of obstacles into the water, with the spacing between the obstacles roughly corresponding to the wavelength of the water waves, one will see diffraction from the grid. At certain angles between the grid and the oncoming waves, the waves will appear to reflect off the grid; at other angles, the waves will pass through. Similarly, if the frequency (wavelength) of the waves is altered, the waves will also alternately pass through or be reflected, depending on the precise relationship between spacing, orientation and wavelength. Interference [edit]

Ripple tank with source1 and source 2 interference in white and black visualization Interference can be produced by the use of two dippers that are attached to the main ripple bar. In the diagrams below on the left the light areas represent crests of waves, the black areas represent troughs. Notice the grey areas: they are areas of destructive interference where the waves from the two sources cancel one another out. To the right is a photograph of two-point interference generated in a circular ripple tank.

See also [edit] Wave tank Capillary wave Shallow water equations External links [edit] Open Source Physics Ripple Tank Model Virtual ripple tank (java applet)