Juan Daniel Martinez Arguello 2904322

Part 1

1. According to your knowledge, explain what a wave is, as well as its characteristics.

A wave is the propagation of a disturbance of some property of space, for example,

density, pressure, electric field or magnetic field, implying a transport of energy without
transport of matter.

2. Mention the different ways (means) in which you consider sound can be transmitted;
provide examples.

Sound is transmitted through:

Gases: Sound speeds in gases are typically considerably smaller than compressional
wave speeds in liquids and solids,So only a small fraction of the energy carried by incident
homogeneous plane waves is transmitted into gas through a plane interface.

Plasma: These ones are called Magnetoacoustic waves, they are sound waves which
propagate in a highly ionized plasma medium, such as the solar wind or a planetary
magnetosphere and occur as a result of the coupling between electromagnetic and
electroacoustic waves due to the presence in the medium of an external magnetic
field.

Liquids: These ones contain heavier molecules and have a greater density than in gas,
thus travel at faster speeds, and produce a greater energy loss due to viscous molecular
friction.

Solids: These sound waves travels even faster through solids because the molecules in
solids are more tightly packed together than they are in air.

3. In a table, explain the properties of a wave and in a drawing indicate each of them.

A Wave lenght Distance from crest to crest.

C Speed of light (300,000km/s) Rate of motion of crest or throughs.
T Period Time between passage of successive crests.
V Frecuency Number of crest passages per unit time.
A Amplitude Distance from level of crest to level of through.
4. Explain what a mechanical wave is and give examples.

A mechanical wave is a disturbance of the mechanical properties of a material medium

that propagates in the medium.All mechanical waves require some source that creates the
disturbance, a medium in which the disturbance spreads and media which possess
elasticity and inertia.

Some examples could be transverse waves, longitudinal waves, and surface waves.

5. Draw a table that compares a transverse wave and a longitudinal wave and give some
examples of each one.

Transverse wave Longitudinal wave

Transverse waves consist of crest and
throughs.
Transverse waves can be propagated
through solids and surfaces of liquids but
not in gases.
There are no pressure variations.
There is no change in the density of
medium.
The light wave is an example of transverse
wave.
The particles of the médium vibrate at right
angles to the direction of wave propagation.
Longitudinal waves consist of compressions
and rarefactions.
Longitudinal waves can be propagated
through solids, liquids and also gases.
There is a pressure variation throughout the
médium.
There is a change in the density throughout
the medium.
The sound wave is an example of
longitudinal wave.
The particles of the médium vibrate
parallelto the direction of the wave
propagation.

6. Write the formulas to calculate the speed of propagation and frequencies of a transverse
and longitudinal wave.

The speed of a wave is proportional to the wavelength and indirectly proportional to the
period of the wave: v = λT v = λ T. This equation can be simplified by using the relationship
between frequency and period: v = λf v = λ f.

Part 2

7. Gather with one classmate and compare your tables. Fill it with any information you’re
missing.
8. Access the simulator at https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/wave-on-a-string and run it.
9. Select ‘oscillate’ in the check box on the upper left corner and ‘fixed end’ on the upper right
corner.
10. Check the boxes for rulers, timer and slow motion.
11. Set the tension at ‘high’, damping at ‘none’, frequency at ‘1.5 Hz’ and amplitude at ‘0.5cm’.
12. Using the ruler measure the length of the string (L) and write it in the word processor along
with the frequency (f) and the amplitude.
13. Press restart and run the simulator. Pause it after 3.5 seconds, count the number of nodes
and write it in the word processor as n.
14. Using the information you got, calculate the speed of the wave and wavelength.
15. Restart the simulator and the chronometer, and set the amplitude to 0.8 cm.
16. Stop the motion after 3.5 seconds, count the number of nodes and calculate the speed of
the wave and wavelength.
17. Restart the simulator and chronometer again, but this time set the frequency in 1.8 Hz and
the amplitude in 0.5 cm.
18. Stop the motion after 3.5 seconds, count the number of nodes and calculate the speed and
wavelength.
19. Write your answers in the word processor, indicating the values of each variable in a table.
Example:

Attempt f A n v λ
1  1.5Hz  .50cm  3  6.1  4.15cm
2  1.5Hz  .80cm  3  6  4cm
3  1.8Hz  .50cm  2  6.10  3.2cm

20. Based on the results obtained, make a presentation about waves, including a justification:
1. Waves characteristics.
2. Explanation of a mechanical wave.
3. Frequencies, lengths, speed, amplitude of transverse waves of each experiment done
in the simulator.

21. Conclusions about the results you obtained for each attempt and its similarities.

I think that it was really useful to use the simulator to replicate the waves, to see it in a real
and visual example is really useful and makes this more interactive. About each attempt it
was simple to do them due the instructions you just had to change the values of amplitude
and frecuency then to measure the wavelenght and count the nodes, pretty cool.