Waves Lab

Waves Lab Conclusion

                We learned a lot from our lab, it was very interesting to see the different tests we could do in order to figure out what waves were.

The first three tests that we did were with no barriers. Aca and found that when one person disturbed the water at a slower frequency it slowed down the waves with a higher frequency. We observed the waves again and saw that the slower wave almost went over the fast wave. In our testing we saw a lot of reflection. We also noticed that when the wave hit the the plastic wall the speed slowed down. When the the waves came together it created a destructive interference, which made the waves slow down. Although the waves did not cancel each other out, it did not cause a nodes.

Then we did sort of a different test, also with no barriers. We put our markers on their sides and disturbed the water at the same time and frequency, these causing waves towards each other. We noticed that when the water’s waves collided, it bounced against each other and went back where the force was coming from. When we increased the frequency, you could still see a slight collision, but the waves with more force went to the opposite side.

One Barrier

 Our first test we created a square with two sides with clay and two sides with the plastic wall. We put our markers in the square and repeatedly created waves. When we were observing this test we found that when a wave is condensed in a small area with barriers, the wave hardly gets out of the small condensed area.

Our next test was a lot like our first test with barriers, the only thing we changed was how far the barriers were away from the walls. As you can see in the picture the wave only gets through the open sides of the square. This test shows us that a wave can’t go through a barrier, it has to go around or under. As the wave slowly went across the pan we found that it got gradually slower, and when it hit the diagonal wall of the wave went so slow that it disappeared.

Our last test we built one clay barrier on each diagonal side with a little space from the wall. We applied the same force to each of the sides seeing if the waves can travel to the middle of the pan. We found that the wave was in such condensed area that the wave couldn’t travel far.This is an example of a refraction, this is when a wave moves from one medium into another medium at an angle, it changes speed as it enters the second medium, which causes it to bend.

Two Barriers

Our first test with two barriers we created a box in the middle of plastic pan and but our markers in corners diagonal from each other. We observed that the waves went to the square, but then immediately bounced back.  When observing the inside of the box, we did not notice any waves. This means, that a closed box hardly gets any waves in it because of the barriers. In this test we saw that the wave created diffraction, this is when a wave passes through a barrier or moves through a barrier it bends and spreads out. The incoming waves did not go through the barrier it went around and created a diffraction. 

The next test that we did was very unusual. We wanted to see if the waves take the shape of the barrier when passing through and around it. We turned our clay barrier into a wave like figure and on one side of the barrier we frequently disturbed the water carefully watching the other side of the barrier to see it the wave came out like the clay wave. We were right! The wave did come out like a real wave! This means that when a wave passes through a barrier it comes out like the shape the barrier is in.This is an example of reflection, when an object or a wave hits a surface through which it cannot pass, it bounces back.

For our last test we created a giant wave that covers about the whole with of the pan, we left just a bit of space from the wall so that we are sure the wave can travel. This test was to make sure that our conclusion was right; Waves take the shape of the barrier when passing. We completed the test with high results! We were right! Waves do take the shape of the barrier when passing! Over all this combination of many labs helped me understand the basics of interacting waves. This was an example of a refraction, when a wave moves from one medium into another medium at an angle, it changes speed as it enters the second medium, which causes it to bend.