Properties of Waves: Exercise for Understanding Wavelength, Amplitude, and Frequency, Lab Reports of Astronomy

Download Properties of Waves: Exercise for Understanding Wavelength, Amplitude, and Frequency and more Lab Reports Astronomy in PDF only on Docsity! Name: Date: PROPERTIES OF WAVES EXERCISE The goal of this laboratory exercise is to introduce the student to the properties of waves. Waves are an important tool for understanding astronomy, because light can be described as an electromagnetic wave. EQUIPMENT: Calculator, Ruler INTRODUCTION A wave can best be described as a traveling disturbance. This means that the wave travels through a region without resulting in a net displacement of the material located in that region. For example, when a thrown rock causes ripples in a pond, those ripples pass and then the pond looks as it did before. A wave can transfer energy from one point to another without transferring material between the two points, which is important because astronomers use the energy of light to understand distant celestial objects. MEASURING PROPERTIES OF WAVES There are some basic definitions needed to describe a wave. A wavelength is the length between two consecutive similar points on a wave (peak to peak, valley to valley, etc…). The amplitude is maximum displacement of the wave, or the maximum height of the wave above the equilibrium position. The period is the time it takes for the wave to complete one wavelength. The frequency is how often a wavelength passes by a given point, which is also equal to one divided by the period. 1 Use Figure 1 provided below to answer the following questions: Figure 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 time (seconds) 1. The wavelength is given by which letter? 2. The amplitude is given by which letter? 3. How many complete wavelengths are represented in Figure 1? 2 A B C D E