Tag Archives: interference

Every once in a while we come across something that has the chance to make a real difference in the classroom in both engaging the students and making your life as a professor a little easier. We think this may be one of those times. Ripple tanks are such a wonderful way to teach your [...]

Tuning Fork Interference   Two waves, when traveling through the same medium, will superimpose upon one another, causing interference. In the case of sound, the two sounds will combine to form a single sound. This lab asks students to combine the sounds from two tuning forks (which each produces a simple sine wave vibration) and observe the [...]

Waves on a Helical Spring
Students investigate properties of mechanical waves using a helical spring: wavelength, speed, reflection, standing waves, interference. Neither amplitude nor frequency affects wave speed. As wave frequency goes up, wavelength goes down, and vice versa. Wave pulses can interfere constructively (adding together when on the same side of the spring) or destructively.
 

Required [...]

Chapter 31 Lab #88: Purpose: To use the basic principles of diffraction and interference to measure the wavelength of laser light.