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Waves Need A Medium To Travel Through

This document uses a slinky to model transverse and longitudinal waves to represent sound waves. It discusses how the slinky demonstrates the medium waves need to travel through, defines key wave terms like amplitude, frequency, crests and troughs. Learners are guided to create and observe both transverse and longitudinal waves with the slinky and label the related wave parts, and asked questions about how changing various wave properties affects the sound and how sound waves can be represented as both transverse and longitudinal.

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33 views

Waves Need A Medium To Travel Through

This document uses a slinky to model transverse and longitudinal waves to represent sound waves. It discusses how the slinky demonstrates the medium waves need to travel through, defines key wave terms like amplitude, frequency, crests and troughs. Learners are guided to create and observe both transverse and longitudinal waves with the slinky and label the related wave parts, and asked questions about how changing various wave properties affects the sound and how sound waves can be represented as both transverse and longitudinal.

Uploaded by

annaliesehatton3011
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name___________________________________________ Period_____

Slinky Wave Modeling

Today we are going to use a slinky to model some sound waves because It is impossible to actually see sound waves. We
can see the waves traveling through materials (like water or sand), but the actual waves we cannot see. What waves
travel through is called their medium.

Waves need a medium to travel through.


If there is no medium, the wave cannot move or be heard. An example of this would be how
you cannot hear sound in space (since there is no air for sound waves to travel through).
Another example would be how earthquake waves travel through the Earth (if we had no
Earth we wouldn’t feel them). AND another example would be how you can see waves at the
ocean. Ocean waves move through the water, but if there were no water, there would be no
waves to see.

Pre Lab Questions:

1.) What is the medium that waves are traveling through today?

2.) What is wave amplitude?

3.) What is a trough? A crest?

4.) What is frequency?

Step 1:
First we are going to make a TRANSVERSE wave with our slinky. These are the types of waves move up and down. Look
at the diagram below of the hand and the wave and try to move the slinky to make this type of wave. Once you are
successful making a transverse wave a few times, draw it in the box below and label the vocab words I ask for.

Label: The crest, the trough, the amplitude, the wavelength

5.) What do I have to do to the slinky to increase the amplitude of the slinky waves? Considering these waves are
representing sound waves, how would this change the sound?

6.) What do I have to do to the slinky to increase the frequency of the slinky waves? Considering these waves are
representing sound waves, how would this change the sound?
Step 2:
Secondly, we are going to make a LONGITUDINAL wave. Longitudinal waves are how sound travels through the air. They
work by “back and forth” motion that we know as vibrations. Look at the diagram below of how a longitudinal wave is
made with a slinky and try it at your table. Draw a picture of it in the box below.

Locations in the slinky where the slinky coils are “bunched together or close together” are called compressions. Put a
square around these places in your drawing. Places where your slinky coils are far apart are called rarefractions. Put a
circle around these places in your drawing.

7.) During actual sound waves, what is being compressed together and what is being spread apart for us to hear
sound? We know it isn’t a metal slinky since the slinky is a model of a “real” wave.

8.) Wait a minute! If sound actually moves like a LONGITUDINAL wave, then why did our oscilloscope on our phone
pick up sound waves as a TRANSVERSE wave? What do you think? Draw a picture of both waves below and try
to match up parts of the LONGITUDINAL wave with what you think are the same parts of the TRANSVERSE wave.

Conclusion Questions:

9.) How is it possible for the wave to travel across (or through) the slinky since the slinky is not moving back and
forth across your desk? Or maybe it is moving?

10.) Did our slinky waves have energy? How do you know?

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