Standing Wave Patterns Lab Experiment
The purpose of this lab that was completed was to observe standing wave patterns in clamped strings, and understand the effect of the standing wave frequencies of changing the length (L), tension (T), and linear density (p) of the strings.
Standing wave patterns in strings are observed at certain excitation frequencies for special values of L, T, and p. A standing wave can be defined as a vibration of a system in which some particular points remain fixed while others between them vibrate with the maximum amplitude. Standing waves have different frequencies called harmonics. The lowest standing wave frequency is called the fundamental or first harmonic. For this, all parts of the string vibrate together, up and down and the ends of the string are fixed in place but are not free to move. We call these positions nodes. A node is a point on the string that does not move. The amplitude of oscillations at each position we look at changes, but the frequency of oscillation is the same. Near a node, the oscillation amplitude is small.
In this experiment, the lab requires an audio amplifier capable of driving a heavy-duty 8-ohm loudspeaker. This amplifier is used to produce standing waves in wires of various linear densities. The required tension is supplied by hanging appropriate masses from the wires. After a string is attached to the amplifier and hung on a weight at the opposite end, the lab is ready to begin. First, start of by using a fixed length of string and give it an applied tension by hanging a weight to it that is about 150 g. Record the fundamental frequency of the string. Once that is done, several different sizes of strings had been recorded for there fundamental frequencies. After all the actions have been recorded, all of the data was plotted into a graph of f^2 versus 1/p, and from it the slope of the graph was retrieved with the equation slope= T/4L^2. Once all of this
Standing wave patterns in strings are observed at certain excitation frequencies for special values of L, T, and p. A standing wave can be defined as a vibration of a system in which some particular points remain fixed while others between them vibrate with the maximum amplitude. Standing waves have different frequencies called harmonics. The lowest standing wave frequency is called the fundamental or first harmonic. For this, all parts of the string vibrate together, up and down and the ends of the string are fixed in place but are not free to move. We call these positions nodes. A node is a point on the string that does not move. The amplitude of oscillations at each position we look at changes, but the frequency of oscillation is the same. Near a node, the oscillation amplitude is small.
In this experiment, the lab requires an audio amplifier capable of driving a heavy-duty 8-ohm loudspeaker. This amplifier is used to produce standing waves in wires of various linear densities. The required tension is supplied by hanging appropriate masses from the wires. After a string is attached to the amplifier and hung on a weight at the opposite end, the lab is ready to begin. First, start of by using a fixed length of string and give it an applied tension by hanging a weight to it that is about 150 g. Record the fundamental frequency of the string. Once that is done, several different sizes of strings had been recorded for there fundamental frequencies. After all the actions have been recorded, all of the data was plotted into a graph of f^2 versus 1/p, and from it the slope of the graph was retrieved with the equation slope= T/4L^2. Once all of this