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John White

Elizabeth Wildsmith
Hannah Woodruff

Mechanical Wave Model


Purpose:
To determine the graphical and mathematical relationship among amplitude pulse length,
distance traveled, and force on the speed of a pulse through a spring.

Apparatus:
Procedure:

1. Obtained the force meter, tape measure, spring, and timer on IPad.
2. Stretched the spring in a straight line on the flat surface, in this case the ground.
Measured the distance of the spring.
3. For amplitude vs. speed, slightly stretched the spring to a distance of 476 centimeters.
Two members of the group held onto each end of the spring while the third person placed
their foot about 1 foot from the beginning of the spring. The third person then pulled the
portion of the spring between the fixed end and their foot to a distance of 3 cm. Once
they released the spring, another person timed the time it took for the pulse to reach the
end of the spring and back. Repeated this 7 more times and changed the amplitude
distance by 3 cm per trial. Calculated average speed by taking the distance of 4.76 m and
dividing that by the time it took to travel back and forth each trial.
4. For foot length vs. average speed, pulled the spring to a distance of 476 cm (4.76 m) and
had one person one each end to hold the spring in place. The third person placed their
foot 10 cm from the end of the spring and pulled the small portion of the spring to a
constant amplitude. After the spring was released, the timer started and recorded the time
it took for the pulse to travel to the end and back. The distance of 4.67 meters was
divided by the time it took to travel to get the average speed. This was recreated 9 more
times with increasing intervals of 10.
5. For distance vs average velocity, the two people held the spring constant, but this time a
distance of 720 cm (7.20 m), and had it set up just like the previous two experiments. The
third person created a constant amplitude and released the spring. The timer timed how
long it took for the pulse to travel back and forth across the spring. This was repeated 4
more times for a total of 5 trials.
6. For force vs. speed, a force measuring device was attached to a fixed end of the stretched
spring (476 cm/4.76m). The spring was then moved to various force measurements with
increments of 4. A pulse was then created and the timer measured how long it took for it
to travel to the end and back. All of this was done keeping the amplitude constant.
7. The data was collected and analyzed.
Data Table:

Amplitude vs. Speed


Foot Length vs. Speed
Distance vs. Velocity
Force vs. Speed
Conclusion:

The graphs of Velocity vs. Amplitude, Velocity vs. Pulse length, and Velocity vs. Distance

exhibit little pattern. Many of the trials we conducted that did yield a point that may have had

some correlation was usually an outlier or a misreading. On the velocity vs. Force graph, we do

have correlation. These different relationships show how the velocity of a wave does not alter

very much (if not at all) unless the medium in which the wave travels is changed. By stretching

the string, we made the medium less dense, causing velocity to alter. Our force vs. velocity graph

was modeled by velocity= -.048(force)+15.3, even though in reality, force vs velocity is not a

linear graph. Some sources of error that could have definitely caused this are errors in measuring

the time each pulse had on the string, and not compressing the spring on accident before, after, or

in between trials. We could have definitely used a photogated or something that we could use to

mount the spring in place on each end.

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