DensityandMoleculesonaWave

By:EllaandEmma

Abstract:
Ourexperimentspurposeistorepresentawaveanditsmovement.Wewillmakea
wavebyusingalongstripofducttapewithskewersontopofthestickypartwithanequal
distancebetweenthem.Therewillbeamarshmallowonbothendsoftheskewers.Tomimicthe
wavewewillpushtheducttapetowhichwillinreturnmoveinthesamepatternasawave.To
producefurtherevidenceanddatawewilldo3furthertrials,oneincludinganincreasein
marshmallows(molecules)withasmallersurfaceareabetweenthem,andthethirdtestwill
consistoftheskewersbeingfarapart.
Intro:
Themotivationtoresearchthissubjectwastoanswerthequestion:howdoesthe
densityinthemediuminwhichawavetravelsthroughchangethespeedofawave?Thiswas
themainquestionasadditiontohowthemassofthemoleculeswouldbeaffectingthespeed
andsizeofthewave.Theotherquestionwouldbeifthespacingofthepopsiclestickswouldbe
affectingthespeed/sizeofthewave.Themethodologyusedtomimicawaveconsisted
researchingthemovementofawaveaswelliftheweightorsizeofmoleculesaffectedthisat
all.Wethentestedoutdifferentformsofwavestogetcomparableresults.Theresultsthatwe
gotweresimilartowhatwebelievedwouldhappen.Wefoundthatthebiggerspacedthe
skewersthebiggerandlongerthewave.Thebiggerthemoleculesormarshmallowstherewere
thebiggerwavetherewouldbe.Thesmallerspacedskewersshowedthatthewavewas
smallerandmovedsignificantlyquicker.
Discussion:
Theideabehindourprojectwastoexpressthemovementofawaveandhowdifferent
waveslookandhowtherephysicaldifferencescausethewavesmovementandspeedtodiffer
fromoneanother.Whenwesetourwaveoffitcreatedamotionwhichrepresenteda
transversewavemotion,thisiswhenthemodelmadetheripplingeffectthisisassociatedwith
energytransfer.Ourprojectwasrepresentinghowthethechangeindensityinthemediumin
whichthewavetravelsthroughaffectsthewavestravelingspeed.Thechangeindensitya
mediumcanaffectdifferentwavesindifferentwayssowedecidedtomakeobservationsthough
ourexperimenttocomeupwithaconclusion.

OurQuestion:
Howdoesthedensitybetweenmoleculeschangethespeedofawave?

OurHypothesis:
Wepredictthatoncewehaveputouradditionalskewersoncausingthemoleculestobecloser
togetherthewavewillmoveinasmallermotionThereasonwepredictedthiswasbecausethe
waveiscenteredaroundtherippleeffectwhichallowsittomoveinaconcistantpacewhich
helpsitgainspeed.Ifyouareaddmoreitmakesitmoresmoothandfast.

Howtorecreatetheexperiment:

Suppliesneeded:
Rollofsimpleducttape
Cookingskewers
Marshmallows
Timer
Measuringstick

Process:
Thefirststepwetookinordertomakeourmodelwastodoresearchtofullyunderstandhowa
waveworksandwhatitlookslike.Wethenresearchedwavereplicasanddiagrams,thislead
ustoatutorialonhowtocreatereallifewave.(putlinkorsomething)Tobeginwefoundinarea
wherewecouldstretchapieceofducttapefacingupwardacrosstheareabetweentwowalls.
Wethentookwoodenrodsabout12incheslongandputmarshmallowsontheeachendofthe
skewertheseactedasthemoleculesseenonawave.Wehadtomakesuretheskewerswere
placedevenlyalongtheducttapetocreatecenteredandbalancedwaveThenweputthese
centeredalongtheducttape1.5inchesapart(38.1mm)apart.Wethenoverlaidanotherstripof
ducttapeontopofthewoodenrodsandstickysideoftheducttape.Allwehadtodowas
experimentwithourmodel,whenwefirsttrieditithadaveryobviouspatternwhichflowedfrom
sidetoside.Weusedatimertofindanaveragespeedinwhichittookforthewavetoreachthe
otherwall.Wedidthisthreetimesandthenfoundouraverage.Thepointofourprojectwasto
comparetowaveswithachangedvariable.Wechangedthedensitywithinthevolumeofthe
ducttapestripwestartedourfirstwavewith38.1/6096mm.Whenwhenchangeditto19.05
/6096thespeedgreatlydecreasedandthewavelookalotlesstimetotravelfromoneendto
theother.Whenwedecreasedthedensitythewavetooklongertotravel.

OurTestResults:

Test

Result1

Result2

Result3

Average

38.1mmApart

1.65

1.45

1.59

1.56

19.05mmApart

.96

1.07

1.0

1.01

57.15mmApart

2.28

2.45

2.36

3.36

Observation:
AfterwatchingourwavemoveInoticedthechangeofspeedandwhymoredensitymaycause
thewavetospeedup.
Whatthismeans:

Thereasonwedidthisexperimentwasbecausewewantedtotestthedensityofourwaveand
howitchangesthespeedofawave.Theresultsthatweexpectedwasthatthecloserorfarther
aparttheskewersweretheslower/fasterthewavewouldmove.Theheavierthe
marshmallows(molecules)theslowerthewavewouldmove.Thedatawecollectedwasthat
withthewoodenrodsabout1.5inchesapartapartmovedquickercomparedtotest2wherethe
moleculeswereheavier.Intest3wefoundthatthewavemovedquickerbecausetheskewers
wereclosertogether.Ouroriginalhypothesisprovedcorrectwithall3tests..Theindependent
variabledidhaveadrasticeffectonwhatweweredoing,itwasthemoleculesormarshmallows
thatwereontheendofthestickthatchangedtheweightthereforechangingthe
speed/movement.

Theresultsofthisexperimentwereimportantinthesensethatwewentthroughthreeteststo
determineanaverage.Iamconfidentintheseresultsbecauselookingatourtrialoftest1Isee
thatthereisaprettyconsistentnumberrangingfrom1:451:65.Withtest2wesawthatthe
numberswereconsistentrangingfrom.961.07.Withtest3wesawarangefrom2.282.45.
Theonlyplacethatthereisslightuncertaintyiswiththemeasurementsandaccuracywiththe
spacingoftheskewersandtheplacementofthemarshmallows/molecules.Thereshouldnotbe
atallofadrasticchangewiththesebutwithtinyadjustmentsthedatawouldbe100%accurate.

Improvements:
Asstatedthethingthatcouldbeimprovedistheprecisioninmeasurements.Althoughtheyare
veryclosetopreciseIfeelifitwasmeasuredcompletelyaccurately.Apossiblewaytoexpand
thiswouldtoincludefurtherteststomakesurethatourdataiscompletelyaccurate.Another

errorthatweencounteredwaswhenwewantedtotesttheelasticitythroughrubberbands.We
hadplannedtoaddthistotheskewersafter3teststotesttheelasticity.Wehadthoughtthis
wouldworkbutitdidnotendupworkinghowwehadwanteditto.Ifweweretoworkon
somethingfurtheritwouldbeagoodideaonhowtocreateanelementofelasticity.

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WaveBasics
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