water on a ripple tank

• What is the equipment needed for a ripple tank

  • piece of paper
  • timer
  • ruler
  • light source
  • ripple tank
  • vibrating bar and a power pack
• Describe the experiment

  • vibrating bar is connected to a power pack which causes waves to form on the surface of ripple tank
  • light source shines waves through the ripple tank onto the piece of paper
• How would you find the wavelength of a wave

  • take an image of the waves on the piece of paper
  • measure the length of the piece of paper
  • measure how many waves are on the piece of paper
  • divide the number of waves by 2
• How would you find the frequency of one wave on a piece of paper

  • measure how many waves pass in a certain time
  • divide the number of waves by the time period
• How would you find the wavespeed

  frequency x wave length