Name: __________________________ Date: ____________ Period: ________

Waves

Equations:

f = 1/T 
 
T = 1/f 
 
v = λ/T 
 
v = λf   
Jump Rope Lab

Materials:
● Jump ropes / ropes
● (Cameras / phone cameras) *perhaps not necessary, but optimal
● If not cameras / phone cameras, then stopwatches are needed
● Pencil and paper

Group Work:
Among your group, divide into four roles:
● 2 of you will hold the jump ropes and make them oscillate
● 1 of you will record the oscillations using a video camera (on your smartphone
device)
● 1 of you will record the data for the group

Lab Goal: The goal of this lab is for your group to:
● Demonstrate the relationship between the wavelength and energy of a wave and
● Analyze the relationship between the wavelength, frequency and velocity of the
wave
 Part 1: 1st Harmonic

The first harmonic looks like this:

1. Measure the distance between both people holding the rope, and record this in the table
below.
2. Wave the jump rope around such that it exhibits the above behavior. (no crazy looking
waves please!) This might take a little practice.
3. Record a movie of the jump rope oscillating for a while (~15 seconds)..
4. Analyze the video and use the given equations on the front cover to complete the table
below.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 three times, to have three separate trials in the table.
6. Once you are done, add up the numbers in each column for each trial and divide by
three to get the average. Record these values in the table.

Distance Wavelength Time to complete Period, T (Time Frequency, f Velocity, v

Trial between people (distance x 2) 10 oscillations to complete 1 (Oscillations (How fast it’s
(m) (from video) oscillation per second) moving)

Avg
 Part 2: 2nd Harmonic

The first harmonic looks like this:

1. Measure the distance between both people holding the rope, and record this in the table
below.
2. Wave the jump rope around such that it exhibits the above behavior. (no crazy looking
waves please!) This might take a little practice.
3. Record a movie of the jump rope oscillating for a while (~15 seconds)..
4. Analyze the video and use the given equations on the front cover to complete the table
below.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 three times, to have three separate trials in the table.

Distance Wavelength Time to complete Period, T (Time Frequency, f Velocity, v

Trial between people (distance x 2) 10 oscillations to complete 1 (Oscillations (How fast it’s
(m) (from video) oscillation per second) moving)

Avg
 Part 3: 3rd Harmonic (EXTRA CREDIT!!)

The third harmonic looks like this:

1. Measure the distance between both people holding the rope (in meters) and record this
in the table below.
2. Wave the jump rope around such that it exhibits the above behavior. This might take a
little practice.
3. Record a movie of the jump rope oscillating for a while (~15 seconds)..
4. Analyze the video and use the given equations on the front cover to complete the table
below.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 three times, to have three separate trials in the table.

Distance Wavelength Time to complete Period, T Frequency, f Velocity, v

Trial between people (???) 10 oscillations
(m) (from video)

Avg