Waves Required Practicals

Ripple Tank Practical

  1. Set up a ripple tank over a piece of paper
  2. Shine a light source through the ripple tank
  3. Turn off the lights in the room and shut the curtains, ensuring that the room is dark
  4. To measure wavelengths, place a ruler on the piece of paper perpendicular to the wave fronts. Measure the distance between as many wavefronts as possible and divide by the number of waves
  5. To measure frequency, count the number of wavefronts that pass a point in 10 seconds and divide the result by 10
  6. Caculate wave speed using the equation:
    Wave speed = wavelength × frequency
Safety Concerns
  • Do not stare directly at light source

Waves in a Solid Practical

  1. On a table, set up a string running over a pulley and wooden bridge, attached to a vibration generator and a weight
  2. Turn on the vibration generator and adjust the frequency until the string begins to vibrate only vertically
  3. To measure wavelength, use a meter ruler to measure the distance between multiple standing waves, and divide the result by the number of waves measured
  4. To measure frequency, use a timer to time the amount of time it takes for 10 oscillations. Divide the result by 10 to find the time period, then use the equation:
    Frequency = 1/time period
  5. Find the wave speed using the equation:
    Wave speed = wavelength × frequency
Safety Concerns
  • The string may snap

Light Practical

1
Ray box Setup
  1. Set up a ray box with a lens and a slit
Safety Concerns
  • Glass lenses can smash and cause cuts
2
Paper Setup
  1. Using a ruler, draw a pencil line down the center of the paper
  2. Using a protractor and a ruler, draw another pencil line adjascent to the initial pencil line. Label this line N
Safety Concerns
  • Lead pencils should not be injested
  • Avoid painful papercuts
3
Adding light
  1. Place a glass block on the border of the initial pencil line
  2. Turn off all the lights in a room and close curtains, ensuring that it is dark
  3. Turn on the ray box
  4. Aim the ray emitted by the ray box at the point where the normal line and initial line intersect
Safety Concerns
  • Glass can smash
  • Do not stare directly at the light source
4
Finding a reflection
  1. Adjust the position of the ray box until a reflected ray is visible
5
Markings
  1. Mark with crosses two points on the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the transmitted ray
6
Remove everything
  1. Turn back on the lights of the room and open the curtains
  2. Turn off the raybox
  3. Remove the glass block
7
Connecting the dots
  1. Turn back on the lights of the room and open the curtains
  2. Draw a pencil line between the two points of the reflected line
  3. Draw a pencil line between the two points of the transmitted line
8
Connecting even more dots
  1. Draw a pencil line connecting the transmitted line to the shared point of the incident and reflected line
  2. Using a protractor, measure the angle between the normal line and the incident line
  3. Using a protractor, measure the angle between the normal line and the reflected line
  4. Using a protractor, measure the angle between the normal line and the refracted line
  5. Repeat the entire experiment again, using a different block of material

Radiation Practical

  1. Put a Leslie cube on a heat proof mat
  2. Align a radiation detector 20cm away from one side of the Leslie Cube
  3. Fill the Leslie cube with boiling water
  4. Turn on the radiation detector
  5. Measure and record the radiation at each surface of the Leslie Cube
Safety Concerns
  • Boiling water