Traveling waves in a ripple tank ‘Name Physies Purpose: To explore traveling waves in two dimensions (reflection, diffraction, two-source interference), Equipment: ripple tank set-up, wax and aluminum wave reflector pieces (straight and curved), paper, ruler, lamps, sttoboscope. Hints for ripple tank success © Tosee fainter waves, it is best to ‘follow’ the waves with your eye at the speed they travel. * Don't bump the tank or even the table, since it is very sensitive to vibrations (try it and see). © Lower the wave generators (long wood bar for plane waves) until they just touch the water, then raise until the ‘meniscus of the water is lifted up. Stop lifting when the water starts puiling away. Getting familiar: 7 ‘Switch on the light above the ripple tank. Dip your finger in. 9" raise and out of the water and look at the waves produced, and their“ !@™ sirlacs. image on the paper covering the desk. The water surface is f acting as a two-dimensional wave medium. The light enables bottom of you to see the wave crests as bright areas and troughs as dark ‘yy — nipple tank areas, as shown here: — white paper bright “dark PART 1: WAVE GENERATOR IS OFF: 1) What shape wave fronts (crests and troughs) are produced from your fingertip? (A small object like your fingertip is called a “point source’ (emitter) of waves.) onrcvlor 2) Try dipping your finger at different speeds. Watch how long it takes the wave to travel to the edge of the tank. Does the speed of the wave made depend at all on how quickly your finger touched the water? wothe/ (requonce ye chumgen- : NOW TURN ON YOUR WAVE GENERATOR: 3) What shape wave fronts (crests and troughs) are produced now? (These waves are called "plane waves!) shraolk \ira3 4) If you turn up the power supply, what does that do to the size (or wavelength) of the waves created? They-heceme synaller ‘What does turning up the power do to the frequency of the waves? . MM (k \nuneoses ‘yer QvoqpernuyPART 2, Reflection of waves ‘Adjust the height of the generator so that the beam is uniform, and not patchy or messy (see hints box at beginning). 1) With a set of plane waves coming off the emitter, sketch the waves which result without, and then with the rectangular piece of wax in the water in each of the three situations shown below (Sketch a single snapshot in time). ‘You can use the stroboscope to “pause” the waves and see them more clearly before you sketch! i) emitter ii) iii) 2) In situation i), there is a region with “standing” waves, or waves that look like they are not really moving. Where is it, and how can you tell? wey \ok Oe benny eae Cw & Sy 3) In situation iii), draw an ARROW showing which way the waves move INTO the wax block. Then draw a second arrow showing which way they REFLECT off the wax block. What do you notice about the angles between these arrows and the wax block? x9, Y-owe Femper Buon 4) Now use a curved reflector and sketch the resulting waves to the right: 5) Is there a point where the waves appear to come together? Label this, point “F” on the diagram to the right. 6) Now tum off the wave generator. Make a circular wave in the ripple tank by dipping your finger where point F was. ‘Now what shape of wave reflects off the curved metal? Shag [V7re3PART 3. Diffraction ‘Tum on the generator. Form a gap ("slit) using two rectangular reflectors. In Part i) place the blocks at least 5 cm apart. In part ii) make the gap between 1 and 0.5 cm. 1) Sketch what happens to waves passing through a wide slit (> 5 cm) and a narrow slit (< 1 om) as shown: i ii) 2) In which situation does the slit behave nearly like a point source? In which is it nearly like a plane wave source? (Powys Axe 4a WHR Une 3) Adjust the slit width to 3 em, and vary the frequency of ineident waves. Do low or high frequency waves spread out more when they go through the slit? Low treguene4- baousertbave o1N + oS Muy ewes betu A Wore PART 4. Interference: Tum off the straight wave generator, Place the small round attachments into the front of the wooden plane and lift the ‘generator so that the round attachments just skim the surface of the water. Tur on the generator and adjust the height if needed to get clear, circular waves. Draw a picture of what you see happening below: point sources 1) Deseribe what you see in the ripple tank: Aw eweleS wi S}rougha Wey, WW the MEL Le oF Yee 2) Is the area down the dotted line in the center destructive or constructive interference? betnetl n—e