Vocabulary: antinode, compression, displacement, frequency, interference, longitudinal wave,
medium, node, rarefaction, standing wave
Prior Knowledge Question (Do this BEFORE using
the Gizmo.)
In many science fiction
...
Vocabulary: antinode, compression, displacement, frequency, interference, longitudinal wave,
medium, node, rarefaction, standing wave
Prior Knowledge Question (Do this BEFORE using
the Gizmo.)
In many science fiction movies, an evil alien
spaceship explodes with an enormous KABOOM!!
Suppose you were floating in space at a safe distance
from a large explosion such as the supernova at left.
Do you think you would you hear anything? Explain.
No, I don’t think I would hear anything because there
is the vacuum of space and the sound would basically
not be able to travel through that medium.
Gizmo Warm-up
No sounds can be heard in outer space because sound waves
require a medium, such as air, to travel through. Sound waves
are examples of longitudinal waves, or waves in which
particles move back and forth in the same direction as the wave.
You can use the Longitudinal Waves Gizmo™ to explore the
behavior of sound waves. In the Gizmo, an air-filled tube
contains 24 evenly-spaced, airtight dividers. To begin, select the
Pulsed waves setting and the Open tube. Set the Strength to
1.00. Deselect the graph options at lower right.
1. Click Play ( ) to set off the firecracker by the left end of the tube. What do you see?
I see the wave travel from left to right, and there is compressions and I watched the
amplitude change too when it came back from right to left.
2. Do any individual air molecules travel the length of the tube? Yes
How do you know? Because the dividers don’t prevent the air molecules from entering or
leaving
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