Thursday, May 24, 2012
Waves Lab
Science Lab
Materials:
• Ripple tank filled up with water
• Pipette
• Styrofoam ball
• Clay sticks
Making Waves
Hypothesis: I hypothesize that, whatever drop is released to fall in the ripple tank it will cause waves which will cover the whole area that is given; in this case it is the ripple tank.
Data Analysis
In the first part of the experiment, where the waves were created by the drop of water released from about 10 height, the waves in the ripple tank behave according to the place where they have been produced: if the wave was created in the center of the ripple tank, it traveled in the form of concentric circles until it reached the edges of the tank. If the waves were produced in the corner of the ripple tank, or in the middle of the ripple tank’s side, they traveled in a form of semi circled ripples, also reaching the very opposite end of the tank. When the waves were created In the corners, center, and at one end of the tank as well, they started to spread either as circles or semi circles; but when they collided they canceled out each other and interrupted each other’s movement.
In the second part of the experiment, interaction between waves and barriers was observed. Whichever wave was produced, it traveled under the floating paper towel or under the Styrofoam ball. However, when a solid object i.e. stick of modeling clay, was placed in the tank the waves started to splash the edges of the clay stick. When the two clay sticks were placed so that a gap of about 2 cm was created, the waves travel as semi circles until they reached the barrier and then split into smaller waves and pass between the barriers using every possible passage to continue their movement. On the other hand, no matter how many Styrofoam balls were placed next to each other on the water surface, and no matter in which part of the tank the waves were created, they would always move under the floating objects lifting them slightly, without interrupting their own movements.
Conclusion
In every phase of the experiment waves showed the ability to travel as far as the end of the tank, even when they were interrupted by solid objects placed shortly apart from each other. Their shape depends of the place of their creation: if they were created in the middle of the tank, they formed full concentric circles, while the ones formed in the corners or at the ends were forming concentric semi circles. Waves have the property to transform the mechanical energy which was used to create them i.e. the energy of a drop of water falling on the water surface is further transform into wave energy. Also, the higher the amplitude and faster the frequency, the bigger/stronger the waves are. As for the waves interaction with each other and in with the solid objects in their paths, when colliding with each other waves tend to cancel out each other’s movements.
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