Wave Interference

In science class we just started a new unit about waves. Before we started learning about it we went to visited a government building of measurements which is where we god our first knowledge on waves. This week we finished a lab where we used 2 droppers, 1 small Styrofoam ball, a tray full of water and some sticks of lay. We had to drop drops of water in the trays with or without different barriers. We had paper towels, Styrofoam balls and clay, and with that we had to see what was going to happen to the waves when we dropped water. We observed it and recorded the information on a sheet. In order to see how the waves really work, we looked through a website, and tried the applications that helped us observe how the wave will be if the amplitude or frequency increase or decrease. (http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/wave-interference) This is an excellent way of observing the effects that the changes have in the height of the waves.

Guiding Questions:
a) When water is dropped from a pipette into a pan of water, how does the wave behave?

b) What properties does a mechanical wave have?

c)How do waves interact with each other and with solid objects in their paths?

Hypothesis:
a) The disturbance that we create, creates waves as well as rippples and it will keep going until it has no energy.
b) frequency, amplitude and wavelength. 

c) When two waves interact is when they crash into each other. When they meet then they start getting slower since the opposites waves slowed them down. If there is an object in its path, it either goes around it, over. However it can also go under it.

Try different combinations. Try increasing the amplitude or the frequency. Add another dripping faucet. Add a barrier (wall) or try a slit or two.  Try turning the sink to the side view.  How do these changes affect the appearance of the waves?  What have you learned about wave properties (wavelength, frequency, and amplitude) and how waves interact


First of all I realized some basic things. When there is only one barrier the wave will go around it, however with 2 barriers and a whole in the middle, the wave will go around and between. However with no space to pass it will stop moving. When I increase the frequency and amplitude, the waves are the biggest and there are more waves as well. However with a high frequency and low amplitude the waves will be smaller however more in number, as well as the opposite. So if the frequency is high and amplitude high, the wavelength will be short, and if the frequency decreases the wave length will be bigger however not the amplitude. when both the frequency and amplitude are medium then, there will be many waves and the height wont be at its highest. However the wavelength will be short.

Pictures of Data I recorded in class:

Making waves lab:
Data Analysis: What pattern or relationships do you see in your data/ sketches/ images? When I look at my drawings where I drew the patterns between the waves we made in class, I saw when we have the paper towel on the top of the water, the wave goes underneath it. I also realized that when we have only one peace of clay in the middle of the tray, the wave will always go around it, however not bounce of, and with two it will go around it. Lastly when we have the foam ball in the water, the wave does carry it up and down, however the ball stays in place and that is because  the wave doesn't carry the medium with it. When we have both the clay and the foam ball the same thing happens just in the same time. I saw during the experiment we did in class is that when the wave bounces of the side of the tray, you can see one wave underneath the other as well.However when it has obstacles it slows down as well but faster. Just one thing I want to add to this lab report is that when the waves don't have a barrier to go around or in between, the wave keeps the exact same speed until it dies down.

Conclusion: What do you conclude about the behavior of waves in the various situations you created today? Can you aswer the guiding questions now? What I really realized in this lab is that when we do something else to the water, the result will be different. When there is something blocking its path that is floating, the wave will go under it. When there is not an obstacle or something in its way it keeps the same speed until it dies down. When it has different barriers, the wave will go around it if it can, and also can in between it. which was weird to me. Before this experiment I answered the theses questions partly right. I did say that it can go around the object, however never thought that it could bounce off.