ERIC Number: EJ913085
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Feb
Pages: 2
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Standing Waves in a Nonuniform Medium
Gluck, Paul
Physics Teacher, v49 n2 p76-77 Feb 2011
A recent note in this journal presented a demonstration of standing waves along a cord consisting of two parts having different material densities, showing different sized wavelengths in each part. A generalization of that experiment to a continuously varying linear mass density is to vibrate a strip of material with gradually varying width (mass per unit length), in order to show that as the strip gets wider, the wavelength becomes shorter. Figure 1 shows the setup. It consists of a mechanical driver fed by a signal generator, and a strip of flexible fabric connected at its narrow end to the driver, nailed to a suitable piece of wood at the wider end. The strip is in the shape of a trapeze, 2 cm and 10 cm at its ends and some 50 cm long in its middle. It may be cut from the inner tube of a tire, or from body-building elastic strips.
Descriptors: Scientific Concepts, Science Instruction, Demonstration Programs, Scientific Principles, Science Experiments, Physics, Energy
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A