Cycle I Idea Journal
Instructions: Use the activities
(computer and hands-on) to answer these questions. You may find that the activities you perform do not go in the
order of the questions posed here. That
is ok. The goal is to answer all of these questions by the conclusion of your
activities. You also need to support
your answers with evidence from your
activities. DO NOT ANSWER A QUESTION IF
YOU CANNOT BACK IT UP WITH EVIDENCE FROM THE ACTIVITIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your answers should be in the order they are questioned here. You will lose points if you don’t answer each question and if you don’t back up each of your answers with evidence from the experiments. (Words in blue are meant to help you, not to be answered)
1. What does the term wave speed mean? (wave speed is represented by v)
A. How can you measure wave speed? (Literally speaking:
how did you physically measure the speed of a wave in one – or several –
of your experiments)
B. What factors affect the speed of a wave? (eg. Did: The frequency with which you shook the
spring? how hard you shook the
spring? the type of spring (slinky vs.
tight coil)?…etc. Did any of these
affect wave speed?)
C. What factors do not affect the speed of a
wave?
D. How does changing the tension of the spring
affect the wave speed? (eg. If it is more tense, what is the resulting
change in wave speed?)
2. What is the
amplitude of a wave? (Amplitude is represented by A)
3. What is the
frequency of a wave? (frequency is represented by f)
4. What is the wavelength of a wave?
(wavelength is represented by l)
5. What kind of
MATHEMATICAL relationship exists between wavelength, wave speed, Amplitude and
frequency? You need a formula
here. Look at your experimental data
and look for a relationship. You must
give EVIDENCE!!!!!!!! (HINT: It is
possible that one or more of these factors does NOT even enter into the
equation!)
6. What happens when a wave encounters a barrier in the medium where
it is traveling?
Does the wave return on the same side or opposite side
(think slinky)?