Basic waves observations: Quantitative Observational Experiment

Aim

Devise physical variables and relationships between them to describe what you observe in this beautiful movie.

Prior Knowledge

• Simple harmonic motion, notion of a period
• Understanding of speed of motion of pulse along the slinky

Description of the Experiment

Observe how a wave forms on a slinky when one of its ends is being shaken contituously. Pay attention to when different coils start engaging in motion. Think of what kind of motion it is.

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Questions

• In what direction do the waves propagate? In what directions do individual coils oscilate?
• How can you determine the speed of the waves from this experiment? Does the speed depend on the how often David shakes his end of the slinky?
• Describe the periods of vibrations of two points on the slinky. Are they the same or different? Explain why.
• Find the points on the slinky that have the same displacement at the same clock reading.