Sine Wave--Copper Tubing

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Description:

Two copper tubes are bent into sine waves. Show Wavelength and phase. Walk with one copper wave to show a traveling wave. Pick a point location.. I usually pick a student's head in the front row. Gently make the lower bump of the wave tap the student's head as the traveling wave passes their head, The time in seconds between bumps is called the Period since it is the time it took for one wavelength to pass their head. Then if they count how many bumps hit their head each second, that is the frequency. The unit is called Hertz, because it HURTS when the bumps keep hitting your head. A little humor is fun sometime.

You can also show two waves traveling and then freeze time and make them stop. Show that the two waves would add together to introduce Superposition.

Location:

• Shelf D-4