MAKING WAVES

PHYSICS IS PHUN – January 2007

S“Please be seated”

Welcome and Thanks

STonight: Properties of waves with application to sound and light

S1. How to view slide show from the web

2. Web pages of interest to pre-college students

SPerhaps the most important wave demonstration

DH1-01: BELL IN VACUUM

Tell story of apparatus.

Athanasius Kircher (1650), Robert Boyle (1660)

TRANSVERSE WAVES

STransverse Waves

DG3-28: SUSPENDED SLINKY

DM7-05: ROPE AND COOKIE COOLERS

DM7-03: POLAROIDS AND GOOSENECK LAMP

DK8-01: ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE – MODEL

Sc = f 

SSpeed of light

SElectromagnetic Spectrum

LONGITUDINAL WAVES

SLongitudinal Waves

DG3-28: SUSPENDED SLINKY

DH1-02: SPEAKER AND CANDLE (use flex-cam with lazy susan for speaker/candle)

Ss = f 

SSpeed of sound

S“Sonic” Spectrum

Eg: Band’s bass/treble sounds arrive simultaneously at back of hall

SComparison of transverse and longitudinal waves

(page 2)

PROPERTIES OF WAVES

SWave Properties I

1. Superposition

SB&S Superposition

Comment: Infinite number of waves can exist at the same point at the same time.

Do not affect each other.

DG3-28 SUSPENDED SLINKY

Transverse standing waves

Longitudinal standing waves

2. Huygens’s Principle

SB&S Huygens’s Principle

Comment: Diffraction arises from Huygens’s principle

3. Doppler Effect

SDoppler Effect

DH2-41: DOPPLER BALL

DH1-51 AUDIOTAPE 42 MIN - SCIENCE OF SOUND - SHORT VERSION

Doppler effect with racing cars section

SSolar Fraunhofer spectrum

Comment: Doppler shift of spectrum gives velocities in expanding universe

SWave Properties II

4. Diffraction

SB&S Diffraction

VRipple Tank Diffraction segment

Comment: Long wavelength diffracts more than short wavelength

DLASER BEAM SHINING ACROSS LECTURE HALL – use white card & walk

Comment: Light casts shadows

DM1-02: LASER DIFFRACTION - VARIABLE SINGLE SLIT

DH2-31: ACOUSTIC COLLIMATOR

Comments: Voices muffled around corners

Marching band low instruments heard before high instruments around corner

SSound barriers along highways – limited effectiveness due to diffraction

(page 3)

5. Interference

SInterference

Sound Examples:

DH2-21: AUDIBLE YOUNG'S EXPERIMENT - GROUP LISTENING

DH2-27: PHASE REVERSAL BETWEEN STEREO SPEAKERS - OSCILLATOR

DH2-26: PHASE REVERSAL BETWEEN STEREO SPEAKERS

DH2-32: SPEAKER WITH BAFFLE

SComment: Commercial applications eg. Industrial noise cancellation and

Electronic car muffler

SLight Examples:

DM1-11: LASER DIFFRACTION - FIXED DOUBLE SLITS

DM4-25: INTERFERENCE IN LARGE SOAP FILM - SODIUM AND WHITE

Comment: Natural colors/dyes broad-band, unsaturated, eg dyed clothing

Interference colors narrow-band, saturated, brilliant, eg peacock feather

SPeacock feather

Comment: Interference colors called “iridescence”

6. Reflection

SReflection --- Mirrors light) and echoes (sound)

DL3-24: OPTICAL BOARD - SPHERICAL AND PARABOLIC MIRRORS

DL3-18: FOCUSING OF HEAT WAVES - OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

DH2-02: PARABOLIC MICROPHONE

Examples: Telescope mirror, searchlight, whispering chamber, microwave dish

DH2-33: SPEAKER AND EXPONENTIAL HORN

DL5-01: OPTICAL BOARD - TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

DL5-13: PLEXIGLASS SPIRAL WITH LASER

DL5-24 FIBER OPTICS - COMMUNICATION LINE

7. Refraction

SRefraction

DL4-01: OPTICAL BOARD - RECTANGULAR SLAB

DL6-03: OPTICAL BOARD - HYPERBOLIC LENS

DH2-11: SOUND LENS

SWaves approach parallel to beach

SMirage Schema

DL4-22: MIRAGE - LASER AND HOT WIRE

SWater Mirage

SMirages

DM7-31: TYNDALL'S EXPERIMENT - COLLOIDAL SUNSET

S2 Sunset Photographs

SBye-bye

Pre-Show Demonstrations

Ultrasound

H1-41: ULTRASONIC MOTION DETECTOR

H2-42: ULTRASONIC PEST CONTROLLER

Polarization

M7-01: MICROWAVES - POLARIZATION

M7-17: REFLECTION OF LIGHT FROM DIELECTRIC AND CONDUCTOR

M7-07: CROSSED POLAROIDS - E FIELD COMPONENTS

Extra sheets of polarizing sheet

L3-16: FOCUSING OF HEAT WAVES BY MIRRORS

G3-43: WHIP

G4-22: CHLADNI FIGURES - OSCILLATOR DRIVEN

Laser with single slit slide, double slit slide, and grating slides

K8-04 SPEED OF LIGHT

G4-41 SOLITONS

H3-01 STANDING SOUND WAVES - TWO SOURCES

N1-01 PRISMATIC SPECTRUM OF WHITE LIGHT - POINT SOURCE