Tsunami on the Horizon Can It Be Stopped?

Topic: Nature of Waves

Go to:
http://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10481&DocID=1936

Click the link "Download ejs_mech_WaveMachine.jar" to download the wave machine

model.

Topic Description

Using the simulation, students will generate a rule that describes how two waves
interact.

Beginning Ideas and Questions

Consider the following questions to spur your thinking:

What causes a tsunami?

Can a tsunami be stopped after it has begun?

The following video, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
describes how tsunamis spread out from their origin. Click the link to watch.

http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/tsunamistrikepropagation/welcome.html

How to use the Wave Machine

To adjust the viewing
Open WaveMachine.jar and explore the options a little while.
angle, click your mouse
button on the screen and
hold the button. Then,
move your mouse
around.
Slider is used with
Mouse Drag to
manually createTests Fixed end option can be
waves. checked or unchecked.

Play button must be clicked before a wave can be Drop down menu allows you to
generated. This button is also used as Pause. change how wave is generated.
Tests

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issues an alert that a
large tsunami is headed toward Jacksonville Beach. An engineer suggests that a wave of
similar size be sent from Jacksonville Beach toward the oncoming tsunami in the hope of
stopping it. Your task is to explore the feasibility of this suggestion.

1. Try stopping a wave with another wave of the same size coming from the
opposite direction.

a. Select "Two Pulse" from the drop down menu. Make sure that "fixed end"
is not checked.
b. Press play. Both pulses will be made automatically by the simulation.
c. The first pulse, once it reflects off the opposite end from which it
originated, represents the tsunami.
d. The second pulse represents the wave sent to stop the tsunami.

Just as the two waves completely overlap, pause the simulation, press PrntScr,
and paste the screenshot below this line.

2. Assuming that the two waves bounce off of each other, could a small wave be
made to bounce the tsunami the other direction?
a. On the drop down menu, select the "Mouse Drag" option. Leave "fixed
end" unchecked.
b. Press play, click the slider on the left, and drag the slider up to make a
large wave.
c. After the large wave reflects from the other end, drag the slider up to
create a small wave.

Insert three screenshots below this paragraph: one screenshot before the waves
meet, one as they overlap, and one after they have separated again.
 3. Based on the wave interactions seen so far, predict what will happen when an
"up" wave overlaps with a "down" wave. Below is a picture of the waves as they
approach each other.

Type your prediction here:

a. Test your prediction by checking the box "fixed end" and selecting "Two
Pulse" from the drop down menu.

Insert a screen shot below this line showing the waves as they overlap.

Observations

For the first test, describe what happened when the two waves met. State also
how the height the wave height changed as the two waves overlapped.

For the second test, state whether the bounce idea will work to turn the tsunami
around. How do you know?

For the third test, describe what happened what happened when an "up" wave met
a "down" wave. How do the waves affect each other as they overlap?
Claims

Write a rule that describes how two waves interact as they meet. Consider wave
size and direction of travel before, during, and after the waves interact.

Evidence

Describe the evidence you have for your rule by referring to specific screenshots
in the Tests section.

Read

As you saw in the video, a tsunami occurs when a large amount of water is
displaced from its resting position, such as by shifting tectonic plates. A tsunami is an
example of a mechanical wavea wave that requires a medium to travel. For the
tsunami, the medium is water. A medium allows mechanical waves to travel because one
particle that is displaced from its equilibrium position causes nearby particles to move
from their equilibrium position. As the wave moves forward, the particles behind the
wave move back into their equilibrium position. Thus, a medium allows a wave to travel
in a direction, but the medium does not travel with the wave.

Two or more waves can exist at the same place and the same time in a
mediummultiple waves can overlap. This wave overlap is called the principle of
superposition. When superposition occurs, multiple waves affect how the medium will
be displaced from its equilibrium position. Multiple waves that overlap with each other
are said to interfere with each other.

Constructive interference occurs between two waves that

displace the medium in the same direction. The individual
waves add together to make a resultant wave with a height
that is the sum of the individual wave heights. For example,
in the picture to the left, if the two approaching waves have
a height of 1 unit, the wave that results when they overlap
has a height of 2 units. After the waves pass each other,
neither wave is permanently affected by the other.
 Destructive interference occurs between two waves that
displace the medium in opposite directions. Here again, the
individual wave heights add together, but this time the "up"
wave has a positive height and the "down" wave has a
negative height. In the picture to the left, the wave
approaching from left has a height of 1 unit, and the wave
approaching from right has a height of -1 unit. As the waves
meet, their opposite heights cancel. At the moment the
waves are perfectly overlapped, the medium is undisturbed.
The waves then pass each other, continuing in the direction
that they started.

Any time an overlap occurs between two waves on the same side of a medium
(both waves are "up" or both "down") constructive interference occurs. But the two
waves can have different heights. If the two wave heights are 1 unit and 2 units (or -1
unit and -2 units) the resultant wave will have a height of 3 units (or -3 units). Similarly,
any time an overlap occurs between two waves on opposite sides of a medium (an "up"
wave and a "down" wave), destructive interference occurs. If the two wave heights are 1
unit and -2 units, the resultant wave is -1 unit.

Click this link to use a tool from GeoGebra that shows the many ways two waves can
constructively or destructively interfere: https://www.geogebra.org/m/dJrTcxYd

Reflection

After reading about wave superposition and interference, and after using the tool
from GeoGebra, can you improve your rule that describes how two waves interact?

If a tsunami cannot be stopped by another wave, can you think of any other ways
to stop a tsunami?