Name _______________________________

Per. _____
Determining the Speed of a Wave
Self-Designed Lab

The purpose of this lab is for you to figure out how to calculate the speed of a wave moving through a
slinky. You have already worked with them and know some of their properties.

What are you trying to show or prove? (Use a complete sentence) ________________________
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What is your hypothesis? (Make sure it is in the if… then format!)_______________________

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Describe (in detail) how you think you will complete the lab.
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What is your data table going to look like? (How many trials are you going to run?)

Teacher Check __________

What materials do you need for your lab?

Think about how you would graph your results…

What is your independent variable? ____________________________________________

What is your dependent variable? ______________________________________________

What is a good title for you lab?

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Go ahead and run your lab…

Once you have finished the lab, complete the final part on a separate piece of paper.

Write a well thought out conclusion where you address the following questions/statements.
1. Summarize what you have learned in this exercise. What did you measure and how did you do
your calculations?
2. Describe the relationship(s) between speed, wavelength and frequency.
3. Was your hypothesis correct? If not, where you off in your thinking?
4. If you were to change the medium (maybe us a piece of rope instead of a slinky) how do you
think that would change your results?