Experiment: Wave Motion Ton 5/12/2011 Adams

Hai Jon

Experiment: Wave Motion

Purpose The purpose of this experiment was to use our equipment to investigate wave motion on a cord.

Materials 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 String vibrator Elastic cord Sine wave generator Connecting wires (banana plug) Table top pulley Threaded metal rod Large C clamp Mass hanger Set of slotted masses Meter stick Triple beam balance

Procedure The first step in this experiment was to assemble the wave generating apparatus. The equipment was well chosen and came together with ease. We attached a 300 g

Experiment: Wave Motion Ton 5/12/2011 Adams

Hai Jon

slotted mass to the cord hanging over the table top pulley. We adjusted the string vibrator base so the distance between the vibrator and table top pulley was about 1 meter. We also measured and recorded the distance H between the hanging mass and the table top pulley. We calculated the linear mass density of the cord and the tension in the cord. The next thing was to set the sine wave generator to constant amplitude and adjust the frequency until we achieved a fundamental wave. We recorded that frequency and continued to adjust the frequency until we observed a standing wave with 2 segments. We continued this process for n segments until we observed 7. For part II of this experiment we set the frequency to 80 Hz and adjusted length L by sliding the string vibrator base back and forth. As length L changed we recorded L when we observed a standing wave with n segments. The following equation was used to calculate frequency:

fn =

n 2L

Data and Results: The following data was collected during the experiment for Part I. mstring (kg) mslot-mass (kg) mhanger (kg) 6.5 x10-3 0.300 50.0 x10-3

n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

L (m) 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85

H(m ) 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36

=m(L+H) (kg/m) 0.0054 0.0054 0.0054 0.0054 0.0054 0.0054 0.0054

(N) 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45

fn measured (Hz) 14.00 28.00 45.10 59.40 73.90 88.20 103.20

fn calculated (Hz) 14.87 29.74 44.61 59.47 74.34 89.21 104.08

% error (%) 5.85 5.85 1.10 0.118 0.592 1.13 0.846

Experiment: Wave Motion Ton 5/12/2011 Adams

Hai Jon

The linear mass density of the elastic cord, found by taking the mass of the string divided by the total length of the string and is the tension in the cord and found by taking the sum of the mass of the string, mass of the hanger and mass of the slotted mass and multiplying by the gravitational acceleration, g.

m ( l + h)

= ( ms + m sh + H ) g

6.5 x103 1.21

= ( 0.05 + 0.3 + ( 0.0054) 0.36) 9.81 = 3.4526

= 0.0054
Frequency for Part I:

1 3.45 2(0.85) 0.0054 f n = 14.87Hz fn =

The formula was applied to the remaining segments. The following data was collected during the experiment for Part II. mstring (kg) mslot-mass (kg) mhanger (kg) 3.5 x10-3 0.300 50.0 x10-3

L (m)

H(m )

=m(L+H) (kg/m)

(N)

fn Measured (Hz)

fn calculated (Hz)

% error (%)

Experiment: Wave Motion Ton 5/12/2011 Adams 1 2 3 4 0.19 0.38 5 0.58 0.76 0.66 0.45 0.27 0.09 0.0041 0.0041 0.0041 0.0041 3.46 3.45 3.44 3.44 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 76.45 75.34 74.91 76.23

Hai Jon

4.64 6.19 6.79 4.95

m ( l + h)

= ( m s + m sh + H ) g

.0035 0.85

= ( 0.05 + 0.3 + ( 0.0041* 0.66) ) 9.81 = 3.46

= 0.0041
Frequency for Part II:

1 3.46 2(0.19) 0.0041 f n = 76.45Hz fn =

Error Analysis

% error = % error =

f n calculated f n measured x100% f n calculated

14.87 14 x100% 14.87 %error = 5.85%

The formula was applied to the remaining segments and displayed on the following graph.

Experiment: Wave Motion Ton 5/12/2011 Adams

Hai Jon

The graph seems to be linear which indicates that there is a linear relationship between the number of segments and the frequency. With a more in depth analysis, we can see that the transverse speed is constant and the wavelength has an inverse proportional relationship with the frequency. Only when the transverse speed is constant; decreasing the wavelength (increasing the number of segments) will increase the frequency, and vice versa.

Conclusion By following the procedure of this experiment we were able to calculate the frequency of a standing wave. We were able to observe waves on a string at different frequency which gives us some intuition into understanding waves. We discovered that we could calculate the frequency with a fair amount of accuracy. We ran into one small problem which had to do with the cord. In part two we shortened the length L of the cord hence changing the linear mass density. We did not immediately compensate for the linear mass density change, therefore our calculations were off. A second look led us to the solution and we quickly corrected it. Suggestions for Improvement This experiment was very helpful and we felt that it was well organized. One possible improvement would be to increase the height of the table used to set up the apparatus. The height of the table limited us in part II because the movement of string vibrator base was dependent on the height of the table. We were able to work around this by shortening our elastic cord, thus changing our linear mass density. Overall, the experiment was well put together.