By the end of this unit, a successful student will be able to:
- (25.1, 25.2) Recognize examples of simple harmonic motion. MSTE Phys 4.1
- (25.2, 25.4) Describe the measurable properties of waves (velocity, frequency, wavelength, amplitude, and period) and explain the relationships among them. MSTE Phys 4.1
- Use mathematical representation to support a claim regarding relationships among the frequency and speed of waves. (NGSS HS-PS4-1)
- (25.3) Distinguish between mechanical and electromagnetic waves. MSTE Phys 4.2
- (25.5, 25.6, 26.2) Distinguish between the two types of mechanical waves, transverse and longitudinal. MSTE Phys 4.3
- (25.7, 26.9) Qualitatively use the principle of superposition to describe constructive and destructive interference of waves
- (25.8) Describe a standing wave in terms of superposition
- (25.8, 26.6, 26.7, 26.8) Define the nodes and antinodes of a standing wave and relate them to the number of wavelengths within a standing wave
- (25.9) Describe the apparent change in frequency of waves due to the motion of a source or a receiver (the Doppler effect). MSTE Phys 4.6
- (26.3, 26.4) Recognize that mechanical waves generally move faster through a solid than through a liquid and faster through a liquid than through a gas.
All assignments are due on the date listed. That is not the date they are assigned.
Due date Day Assignment
12/2 Fri Read: Ch 25.1 – 25.4
Do p. 388: 1 – 10
Mon Read: Ch 25.5 – 25.11
Do p. 388: 11 – 20
12/5 Tue pp. 388-389: 21 – 41 (odd)
12/6 Wed Do: Pendulum Lab
12/7 Thu Do: CDPP 25-1, 25-2
12/8 Fri Do: Slinky Wave Lab
12/12 Mon Read: Ch 26
Do: pp. 401-402: 1 – 19 (odd)
12/13 Tue Do: Sound Lab
12/14 Wed Finish CDPP’s 25-3, 26-1
12/15 Thu Test – Waves: Chapters 25 & 26
Missed a class? Forgot what we did last week? Follow the link to Physics Unit 7 Daily Plans
- Textbook links
- Links - Waves
- Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog had a nifty picture demonstrating light waves moving faster than sound waves that involves a burning jet and a missle exploding New! 9/3/10
- Magius modified a Super Mario World level for a lesson on mechanical waves in Super Mario Physics. This site is blocked from GDRSD computers, probably due to dating service advertisements. New! 5/18/07
- Thomas Young in 1801 demonstrated that light behaves as a wave in his famous Double-Slit interference experiment. In that experiment, Young placed a a source of light behind a pinhole, and alowed that light to enter two slits or pinholes in a barrier beyond. Those slits acted as new sources of light. Because light acts as a wave, when a crest from one source overlaps a crest from the other, the light there adds together and is brighter. Similarly, when a trough overlaps a trough, the light adds together and is brighter. But when a trough from one source overlaps a crest from the other, the two waves cancel each other out and the region is dimmer. This results in an alternating bright-dark pattern of interference fringes on any screen placed beyond the two slits. The spacing of the fringes is dependent on the wavelength of the light and the the spacing of the slits. This Young's Double Slit Applet allows you to examine the results of such an experiment while varying all of the parameters. No math shown, although the parameter dimensions are listed. Young's experiment caused the physics community to consider light as waves rather than as Newton's corpuscular particles - until the dawn of quantum mechanics when we realized that light behaves as both a wave and a particle. At that time it was also realized that electrons and other particles could behave like waves when they went through their own Double-slit interference experiments.
- Joseph Alward collects a number of nice diagrams showing Light Interference. Uses algebra and trigonometry.