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By:EllaandEmma
Abstract:
Ourexperimentspurposeistorepresentawaveanditsmovement.Wewillmakea
wavebyusingalongstripofducttapewithskewersontopofthestickypartwithanequal
distancebetweenthem.Therewillbeamarshmallowonbothendsoftheskewers.Tomimicthe
wavewewillpushtheducttapetowhichwillinreturnmoveinthesamepatternasawave.To
producefurtherevidenceanddatawewilldo3furthertrials,oneincludinganincreasein
marshmallows(molecules)withasmallersurfaceareabetweenthem,andthethirdtestwill
consistoftheskewersbeingfarapart.
Intro:
Themotivationtoresearchthissubjectwastoanswerthequestion:howdoesthe
densityinthemediuminwhichawavetravelsthroughchangethespeedofawave?Thiswas
themainquestionasadditiontohowthemassofthemoleculeswouldbeaffectingthespeed
andsizeofthewave.Theotherquestionwouldbeifthespacingofthepopsiclestickswouldbe
affectingthespeed/sizeofthewave.Themethodologyusedtomimicawaveconsisted
researchingthemovementofawaveaswelliftheweightorsizeofmoleculesaffectedthisat
all.Wethentestedoutdifferentformsofwavestogetcomparableresults.Theresultsthatwe
gotweresimilartowhatwebelievedwouldhappen.Wefoundthatthebiggerspacedthe
skewersthebiggerandlongerthewave.Thebiggerthemoleculesormarshmallowstherewere
thebiggerwavetherewouldbe.Thesmallerspacedskewersshowedthatthewavewas
smallerandmovedsignificantlyquicker.
Discussion:
Theideabehindourprojectwastoexpressthemovementofawaveandhowdifferent
waveslookandhowtherephysicaldifferencescausethewavesmovementandspeedtodiffer
fromoneanother.Whenwesetourwaveoffitcreatedamotionwhichrepresenteda
transversewavemotion,thisiswhenthemodelmadetheripplingeffectthisisassociatedwith
energytransfer.Ourprojectwasrepresentinghowthethechangeindensityinthemediumin
whichthewavetravelsthroughaffectsthewavestravelingspeed.Thechangeindensitya
mediumcanaffectdifferentwavesindifferentwayssowedecidedtomakeobservationsthough
ourexperimenttocomeupwithaconclusion.
OurQuestion:
Howdoesthedensitybetweenmoleculeschangethespeedofawave?
OurHypothesis:
Wepredictthatoncewehaveputouradditionalskewersoncausingthemoleculestobecloser
togetherthewavewillmoveinasmallermotionThereasonwepredictedthiswasbecausethe
waveiscenteredaroundtherippleeffectwhichallowsittomoveinaconcistantpacewhich
helpsitgainspeed.Ifyouareaddmoreitmakesitmoresmoothandfast.
Howtorecreatetheexperiment:
Suppliesneeded:
Rollofsimpleducttape
Cookingskewers
Marshmallows
Timer
Measuringstick
Process:
Thefirststepwetookinordertomakeourmodelwastodoresearchtofullyunderstandhowa
waveworksandwhatitlookslike.Wethenresearchedwavereplicasanddiagrams,thislead
ustoatutorialonhowtocreatereallifewave.(putlinkorsomething)Tobeginwefoundinarea
wherewecouldstretchapieceofducttapefacingupwardacrosstheareabetweentwowalls.
Wethentookwoodenrodsabout12incheslongandputmarshmallowsontheeachendofthe
skewertheseactedasthemoleculesseenonawave.Wehadtomakesuretheskewerswere
placedevenlyalongtheducttapetocreatecenteredandbalancedwaveThenweputthese
centeredalongtheducttape1.5inchesapart(38.1mm)apart.Wethenoverlaidanotherstripof
ducttapeontopofthewoodenrodsandstickysideoftheducttape.Allwehadtodowas
experimentwithourmodel,whenwefirsttrieditithadaveryobviouspatternwhichflowedfrom
sidetoside.Weusedatimertofindanaveragespeedinwhichittookforthewavetoreachthe
otherwall.Wedidthisthreetimesandthenfoundouraverage.Thepointofourprojectwasto
comparetowaveswithachangedvariable.Wechangedthedensitywithinthevolumeofthe
ducttapestripwestartedourfirstwavewith38.1/6096mm.Whenwhenchangeditto19.05
/6096thespeedgreatlydecreasedandthewavelookalotlesstimetotravelfromoneendto
theother.Whenwedecreasedthedensitythewavetooklongertotravel.
OurTestResults:
Test
Result1
Result2
Result3
Average
38.1mmApart
1.65
1.45
1.59
1.56
19.05mmApart
.96
1.07
1.0
1.01
57.15mmApart
2.28
2.45
2.36
3.36
Observation:
AfterwatchingourwavemoveInoticedthechangeofspeedandwhymoredensitymaycause
thewavetospeedup.
Whatthismeans:
Thereasonwedidthisexperimentwasbecausewewantedtotestthedensityofourwaveand
howitchangesthespeedofawave.Theresultsthatweexpectedwasthatthecloserorfarther
aparttheskewersweretheslower/fasterthewavewouldmove.Theheavierthe
marshmallows(molecules)theslowerthewavewouldmove.Thedatawecollectedwasthat
withthewoodenrodsabout1.5inchesapartapartmovedquickercomparedtotest2wherethe
moleculeswereheavier.Intest3wefoundthatthewavemovedquickerbecausetheskewers
wereclosertogether.Ouroriginalhypothesisprovedcorrectwithall3tests..Theindependent
variabledidhaveadrasticeffectonwhatweweredoing,itwasthemoleculesormarshmallows
thatwereontheendofthestickthatchangedtheweightthereforechangingthe
speed/movement.
Theresultsofthisexperimentwereimportantinthesensethatwewentthroughthreeteststo
determineanaverage.Iamconfidentintheseresultsbecauselookingatourtrialoftest1Isee
thatthereisaprettyconsistentnumberrangingfrom1:451:65.Withtest2wesawthatthe
numberswereconsistentrangingfrom.961.07.Withtest3wesawarangefrom2.282.45.
Theonlyplacethatthereisslightuncertaintyiswiththemeasurementsandaccuracywiththe
spacingoftheskewersandtheplacementofthemarshmallows/molecules.Thereshouldnotbe
atallofadrasticchangewiththesebutwithtinyadjustmentsthedatawouldbe100%accurate.
Improvements:
Asstatedthethingthatcouldbeimprovedistheprecisioninmeasurements.Althoughtheyare
veryclosetopreciseIfeelifitwasmeasuredcompletelyaccurately.Apossiblewaytoexpand
thiswouldtoincludefurtherteststomakesurethatourdataiscompletelyaccurate.Another
errorthatweencounteredwaswhenwewantedtotesttheelasticitythroughrubberbands.We
hadplannedtoaddthistotheskewersafter3teststotesttheelasticity.Wehadthoughtthis
wouldworkbutitdidnotendupworkinghowwehadwanteditto.Ifweweretoworkon
somethingfurtheritwouldbeagoodideaonhowtocreateanelementofelasticity.
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