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Experiment-367
Email: labexperiments@rediffmail.com
Abstract
Using a new type of metal sonometer, speaker vibrator and power oscillator, the
three laws concerning vibration of stretched strings are verified. This sonometer
is easier to handle compared the available sonometers and moreover the
vibrations produced are of high amplitude which are normally not observed in
case of other sonometers conventionally used in physics laboratories.
Introduction
Marin Mersenne, a French scientist first published correct theoretical equations and
formulated laws of vibration of stretched strings in 1636. He studied the vibrations of musical
tones by using brass-ball weights attached to brass wires, adjusting the tension with
appropriate weight attached to the wires [1].
Mersenne observed that the frequency of oscillation is inversely proportional to vibrating
length of the string, directly proportional to the square root of tension and inversely
proportional to the square root of mass of the string. Based on these observations, he
formulated an equation describing vibration of stretched string as
=
, or L is constant.
This is known as the law of Velocity. The constant appearing in this equation is the velocity
of the sound through the wire which remains constant under this condition. Therefore, a
graph of 1/L versus is a straight line, with slope given by
Slope velocity = V =
where V is the velocity, and
is the wavelength.
From Equation-1
V= and
L=
or
...5
Law of
Held constant
Table-1
Proved constant
Velocity
m, T
L=V
Mass
m,
/T =
Tension
, T
m = T
Straight line
1
versus
#
versus /T
versus m
Slope
V
1
m
T
Tweeter vibrator
Amplitude
E C A
T/4
T/2
3T/4
Time
E
Figure-4: Vibrations of the voice coil (left) and the input sine wave (right)
A sine wave of period T drives the speaker; the voice coil of the tweeter moves up and down
as shown in Figure-4. When T=0, the voice coil is at its equilibrium position A. When the
time is T/4, the voice coil moves to the upper position B; when time is T/2, the voice coil
comes to the equilibrium position; when time is 3T/4 the voice coil is at the position D; and
when the time is T the voice coil comes back to its equilibrium position. Hence during the
period T, the voice coil completes one oscillation and, therefore, the period of the voice coil
is the same as that of the sine wave.
B
Metal strip
A,C,E
Loop on string
D
Speaker
where L is length of the loop vibrating with the maximum amplitude, and
is the wavelength of the input signal driving the speaker
Hence if we determine the length of loop with the maximum amplitude, the velocity of the
sound travelling on the string can be determined and the three laws of vibration of stretched
strings can be verified experimentally [2].
Apparatus used
Sonometer fitted with tweeter vibrator, power oscillator 50-130Hz variable frequency, slotted
weights 5 numbers each of 20gm, and wires of iron (0.3mm dia), cotton thread, twin thread,
nylon thread, and digital scale to weigh up to 300gm. The complete experimental set-up is
shown in Figure-2.
Experimental procedure
The experiment consists of three parts, namely
Part-A: Law of Velocity
Part-B: Law of Tension
Part-C: Law of Mass
Part-A: Law of Velocity
In this part of the experiment, m and T are held constant throughout the experiment,
frequency of vibration is varied and the corresponding vibration length is determined.
1. The twin thread (green color) is selected for this part of the experiment. Thread of
exactly one meter length is taken and its mass (M) is determined using the digital
balance.
Length (l) = 1m
Mass (M) = 1.62 gm = 1.62x10-3 kg
Mass per unit length (m) =
$
%
.&'()*+
= 1.622.1001 kg/m
2. One end of the thread is tied to the tweeter vibrator and the other end is passed over
the pulley and tied to a 3x20gm (W) slotted weight hanger. Hence the tension in the
string
T = Wg = 0.060 x 9.8 = 0.588 N
3. The power oscillator is now connected to the tweeter vibrator and the frequency is set
to 130Hz.
= 130Hz
4. The two bridges are brought to the center, taken apart very slowly and vibration of the
string is observed. The distance between the strings is adjusted such that the string
vibrates with the maximum amplitude with the single loop as shown in Figure-6. The
length of the vibrating loop is noted from the graduated scale provided on the
sonometer.
V=
T
m
).233
= .&''()*+ = 19.05m/s
0.060
Velocity
4
(m/s)
5
19.05
Frequency
(Hz)
Vibrating
length L=
(m)
0.144
0.163
0.198
0.238
0.261
0.290
0.364
130
110
90
76
70
62
50
Average (V)
Verification of the Law of Velocity
Velocity
V=
(m/s )
18.72
17.93
17.82
18.10
18.27
17.98
18.20
18.15
5. The experiment is repeated by varying the frequency to 110Hz, 90Hz etc. up to 50Hz.
For each length of the vibrating loop, the maximum amplitude is determined and
presented in Table-2.
6. A graph is drawn taking 1/L along the X-axis and frequency () along the Y-axis, as
shown in Figure-7. From the straight line graph, the slope is calculated which gives
the velocity of the sound wave in the string.
Slope velocity =18.85m/s. This agrees with the value obtained using equation-3
Frequency (Hz)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
4
1/L
(m-1)
10. The experiment is repeated by increasing the weight to 40, 60, 80 and 100 gm and for
each case the vibrating length is determined and tabulated in Table-3.
Weight (gm)
20
40
60
80
100
Table-3
Tension T (N)
T
/T
L(m)
0.196
0.443
203.1
0.123
0.392
0.626
143.7
0.170
0.588
0.767
117.3
0.201
0.784
0.885
101.7
0.230
0.980
0.989
91.0
0.255
Vibrating length versus tension in the string
1/L
8.13
5.88
4.97
4.35
3.92
11. A graph showing the variation of /T versus 1/L is drawn as shown in Figure-8. The
slope of the straight line is determined.
/T
200
150
100
50
0
0
1/L
Slope tension = 25 =
m= 0.04
Table-4
Vibrating length L (m)
6 5
5
0.04
4.40
0.14
0.03
3.30
0.192
0.025
2.75
0.217
0.019
2.09
0.285
0.014
1.54
0.384
Variation of the vibrating length with tension in the string
Vol-12, No-2, June-2012
1/L
7.14
5.2
4.6
3.5
2.6
1/L
14. The experiment is repeated by changing the thread, keeping the same tension and
frequency. The readings obtained are tabulated in Table-4.
15. A graph showing the variation of 1/L with m is drawn as shown in Figure-9 and its
slope is calculated
Slope mass = 0.625 = 7
T= 0.390
Actual T = Wg = 0.04 x 9.8= 0.392
The value agrees with the chosen value.
Results
In this experiment, Mersennes laws of vibration of stretched strings are verified. In each
case the constants appearing in the equations are determined and found to agree well with the
corresponding theoretical value. The results obtained are tabulated in Table-5
Law
Velocity
Expt. (Slope)
V= 18.85 m/s
Tension
m =1.6X10-3Kg/m
Mass
T = 0.390
Table-5
Thet.
=19.05 m/s
8
9
=1.62x10-3
Wg = 0.392
Experimental results
Inference
Velocity remains constant
References
[1]
http://www.justonic.com/mersenne.html
[2]