Standing Waves in a Thin

String (Melde’s experiment)

Objectives:  
1. To observe and investigate standing waves on a thin string.
2. To determine the frequency of an electrically maintained tuning fork Using a vibration generator.
Materials/Apparatus: vibration generator (), (to be determined), string, white paper ~21cm wide by ~1.5 m long on table
(to make the black string more visible), weight hanger with slotted weights, metric measuring stick, Pulley and clamps, and
fine thread (2 meters).
 Introduction
Melde's experiment is a scientific experiment carried out in 1859 by the German physicist Franz Melde on the 
standing waves produced in a tense cable originally set oscillating by a tuning fork (the tuning fork was discovered by
musician John Shorein1711), later improved with connection to an electric vibrator. Standing waves were first
discovered by Franz Melde, who coined the term "standing wave" around 1860. This experiment, attempted to
demonstrate that mechanical waves undergo interference phenomena. In the experiment, mechanical waves traveled in
opposite directions form immobile points, called nodes. These waves were called standing waves by Melde since the
position of the nodes and loops (points where the cord vibrated) stayed static. Stationary waves result from the
superposition of two wavetrains of equal amplitude and frequency travelling at the same speed but in opposite directions.
This is a special case of interference.
Consider a string fixed at one end and tied to a vibrator. The waves produced by the vibrator travel down the string, are
inverted by reflection at the fixed end, and travel back to the vibrator. A standing wave, also known as a stationary wave,
is a wave that remains in a constant position. This phenomenon can occur because the medium is moving in the opposite
direction to the wave, or it can arise in a stationary medium as a result of interference between two waves traveling in
opposite directions.
Resonance occurs only for waves whose wavelength match or fit into the length of the string. In this case the incident
waves and the waves reflected at the pulley or clamp combine to form the stationary wave.
 Fig. 1.

•  The points of the medium which have no displacements called nodes and there are some points
which vibrate with maximum amplitude called antinodes (see figure 1).
During each period ( is the time it takes for a wave to repeat itself), the wave travels a distance of
one wavelength, ; therefore the velocity of the wave is given by (see figure 2).

Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.

•A  sketch of the Melde’s experiment is shown in Fig. 3 and 4. One end of
a string is attached to a vibrating fork and the other end is passed over a
pulley and attached to a hanging mass, ().

Fig. 4.
 Theory
• The
  string is effectively fixed at the pulley end and so the waves that are introduced
onto the string by the vibrator are reflected at the pulley. These reflected waves
interfere with the waves that are moving towards the pulley. The speed () of a
transverse wave in a string depends on the string's mass per unit length (linear
density) and the tension . By setting the tension with the pulley system shown below
and by measuring the mass density, one can determine the speed of the transverse
wave by:

Squaring both sides of eq. (3) one obtains:

• 

The distance between two consecutive nodes is .

There are two derive mode in Melde's experiment. By making the thread parallel to the length of
the prongs, transverse waves can be produced in the thread. If the thread is perpendicular to the
length of the prongs, longitudinal waves will be set up in the thread. 
Transverse drive mode: In this arrangement the vibrations of the prongs of the tuning fork are in
the direction perpendicular to the length of the string. The time, during which the tuning fork
completes one vibration, the string also completes one vibration.
 Procedures
•1. Attach the string to the screw on the vibrating fork and place it over the pulley. Excite the
tuning fork by switching on the power supply.
2. Place a load of in the pan attached to the end of the string.
3. Measure the length between two successive nodes, .
4. Calculate the wavelength in the string using , where is the number of antinodes between two
chosen nodes.
5. Note down the mass placed in the pan and in a table (see table 1).
6. Repeat the experiment by changing the mass (, , and ) in the pan.
7. Plot a graph between and , then find the slope of the straight line passing through the origin.
8. Calculate the frequency of the vibrating fork from eq. (6) by using the relation, , where .
9. Compare the measured frequency () in step 8 with the standard value .
 Table 1

250      

350      

450