Name: Grade & section:

Teacher: Date:

WAVES
Laboratory Activity 2

Introduction:
Waves are simply the transfer of energy through space. There are two main types of waves,
mechanical and electromagnetic. Today, we're going to review what each of the types of waves are, and
how they move through space. All types of sound, including music and spoken language, as well as the
ocean waves are examples of mechanical waves. Mechanical waves move through a medium, or a
substance. Sound waves move through the air, and ripples in a pond move through the water.

Materials:
Rope (at least 5 meters long) Colored ribbon
Coil spring Basin filled with water Paper boat

Procedure:

Station A: What are Transverse wave?

1. Straighten the rope and place it on a long table. Hold one end of the rope and vibrate it up and
down. You would be able to observe the pulse. Draw three sketches of the rope showing the
motion of the pulse at three different instances (at three different times). Draw an arrow to
represent the direction of the pulse’s motion.

Time 1

Time 2

Time 3

a) What is the source of the pulse?

b) Describe the motion of your hand as you create the pulse.

c) Describe the motion of the pulse with respect of the source.

2. Tie one end of the rope to a fixed object.

3. Tie a colored ribbon on one part of the rope. Make a wave continuously by vibrating the end of
the rope with quick-and-up down movements of your hand. Draw the waveform or the shape of
the wave that you have created.
 Waveform

a) Does the wave transport the colored ribbon from its original position to the end of the
rope?

b) Describe the vibration of the colored ribbon. How does it move as the waves pass by?
Does it move on the same direction as the wave?

Station B: What are longitudinal wave?

4. Let two people hold each end of a coil spring. Place a coil spring on top of a table.
5. Vibrate the coil spring by doing back-and-forth motion. Observe the waves along the coil spring.

Drawing

Station C: What are surface waves?

6. Place a basin filled with water on top of a table. Wait until the water becomes still or motionless.
Create a wave pulse by tapping the surface of the water with your index finger and observe the
direction of travel of the wave pulse. Tap the surface of the water at regular intervals to create
periodic waves.

7. Wait for the water to become still before you place your paper boat on the surface. Create a
periodic waves and observe what happens to your paper boat.

a) Do the waves set the paper into motion? What is required to set the object in motion?
 b) If you exert more energy in creating periodic waves by taping the surface with greater
strength, how does this affect the movement of the paper boat?

1. Waves can be classified according to the direction of the motion of the vibrating particles with
respect to the direction in which the waves travel.

a) Waves in a rope are called __________________ waves because of the individual

segments of the rope vibrate _________________ to the direction in which the waves
travel.
b) When each portion of the coil spring is alternately compressed and extended,
__________________ waves are produced.
c) Waves on the surface of the body of water are a combination of transverse and
longitudinal waves. Each water molecule moves in a ___________________ pattern as
the waves pass by.

2. How do we know that waves carry energy?

3. What happens when waves pass by?

Station D: Electromagnetic Waves

Electromagnetic waves or EM waves are waves that are created as a result of vibrations
between an electric field and a magnetic field. In other words, EM waves are composed of
oscillating (going up-down and right to left movement) magnetic and electric fields. There are
different types of EM waves like Radio wave, Microwave, Infrared Rays, Ultraviolet rays, X-rays,
and Gamma Rays.

Identify the type of electromagnetic wave from the following:

a. Nuclear changes of an atom ―
b. Used in airport security system ―
c. Sunburn ―
d. ROYGBIV ―
e. Modern oven ―
f. AM and FM radio ―
g. Bluetooth ―