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5. Strike the tuning fork on the heel of your hand. Hold the vibrating tuning fork horizontally as close
to the open end of the tube as you can. Move the container, varying the length of the air column.
Try to find the spot where the sound is best reinforced (loudest). You may find more than one
position where reinforcement occurs, so try moving the container up and down several times to find
the shortest tube length that gives the loudest sound.
6. Measure and record the length of the air column in row 3 of the data table - that is the distance from
the top of the tube to the top of the water.
7. Add the adjusted diameter value (row 2) to the measured column of air from step # 6 (row 3) and
enter it as the length of the air column (row 4). The reason for doing this is that the column must
be increased by four tenths (0.4) of the diameter of the tube to correct for the small amount of air
just outside the top of the tube that vibrates with the air column in the tube.
8. Compute the wavelength of that sound by multiplying the corrected length value you made in step
#7 (row 4) by 4. The corrected length is only one fourth of the wavelength of the sound vibrating
in the air column. Record this wavelength in row 5 of your data table.
9. Using the frequency and the wavelength you calculated, calculate the velocity of that sound and
record in row 7. Velocity of a wave is found by the formula v = f x λ .
10. If time permits, repeat the steps above using a different tuning fork.
11. Answer question #1 below to get the accepted value for the speed of sound and calculate your %
error for each trial and enter in row 8 of your data table. For % errors > 5% re-measure.
DATA TABLE:
Data Entry Trial 1 Trial 2
Row
1 Diameter of the tube in meters
2 0.4 x the diameter of the tubes in meters
3 Length of the air column in meters
4 Corrected length of the air column (row 2 + row 3)
5 Wavelength in meters (row 4 x 4)
6 Frequency of the tuning fork in Hertz
7 Velocity of sound in air in m/s
8 % error (answer question #1 to calculate accepted value)
QUESTIONS:
1. The room temperature at the time of the lab was _______ºC. The velocity of sound in air is 332
m/s at 0º Celsius. It increases 0.6 m/s for each Celsius degree above zero. Calculate the velocity of
sound at the temperature of the laboratory.
2. How does your computed value for the velocity of sound compare with the accepted value?
3. Sound waves travel in water about four times faster than in air. When sound waves leave air and
enter water, the equation v = f x λ tells us that since velocity increases, either frequency (f) or
wavelength (λ ) or both must increase. From previous information you have obtained, does f, λ , or
both increase and why?
4. An observer sees a lightning flash from a distant thunderstorm and 12 seconds later she hears the
thunder. If the temperature of the air is 20º C, how far from the storm is the observer? (Assume that
light travels instantaneously).
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