Notes from Ms. Parker's 9th grade physics class, week of Jan 17 - 25, 2012

1. GOOD MORNING!
Today we will:
begin investigation 5.2
takes some notes
Please do BEFORE the BELL
get your lab book
get a textbook and open to page 492
get out something to write with

2. MAKING WAVES
What kinds of waves are there?

3. INVESTIGATION 5.2
Open your lab book to the first clean page and
title it, “Making Waves.” Be sure to make a
TOC entry as well.

4. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
How does water move to make a wave?
Tsunami
Stadium Wave

5. INVESTIGATION 5.2
Today we will complete # 1 – 5 of the
investigation.
By the end of this portion of the lab, you
should know and be able to describe:
what a transverse wave is
what a wave’s amplitude is
what happens when two waves add together

6. Key
WAVES TRANSFER ENERGY Term
Alert!
How would you define the word “wave”?
A wave is a transfer of energy with no net
transfer of mass.
To transfer energy to the slinky, you used chemical
energy stored in your arm muscles to create the
mechanical energy of the motion of your hand
which was them passed on to the slinky which
began moving.

7. Key
WAVES TRANSFER ENERGY Term
Alert!
Some waves (like sound waves) must have a
medium to pass their energy through
What was the medium in our investigation?
the slinky
The word “medium” in this context means a
substance through which something else is
transmitted or carried on

8. WAVES TRANSFER ENERGY
The medium for water waves is the surface of
the water.
Leonardo da Vinci explained this principle by
stating,
“The wave flees the place of creation, while the
water does not.”
The medium for sound waves can be the air
around us, the ground under us, or even the
water in our rivers, oceans, and streams.

9. WAVE VOCABULARY
To discuss waves effectively, we need a
common vocabulary

10. VOCABULARY TERMS – WRITE DOWN,
LEAVE SPACE
periodic wave period
crest transverse wave
trough longitudinal wave
amplitude compression
wave
wavelength
standing wave
frequency
node
antinode

11. PG 499 - 501
Between the pages of 499 and 501 in your
textbook, you will find definitions, diagrams,
and examples of each of the vocabulary
terms.
Define all words + give an example and/or
create a diagram for each. Beside each word,
put the page number where you found your
information.
20 minutes independent work

12. CALCULATING THE SPEED OF A WAVE
The distance the crest of a wave moves in 0.2
seconds is 2 meters. Calculate the speed of
the wave.
That’s an easy enough problem. But what if
you don’t have wavelength and time? What if
you have frequency and wavelength?

13. CALCULATING SPEED USING FREQUENCY
AND WAVELENGTH
Imagine you saw 5 crests pass by in 1
second. You measure the distance between
the crests and it is 2 meters. What is the
speed?
wave speed = wave frequency x wavelength
v = fλ

14. CALCULATING SPEED USING FREQUENCY
AND WAVELENGTH
Determine the speed of a transverse wave
with a frequency of 4 Hz, a wavelength of 0.75
meters, and an amplitude of 1.5 meters.