waves on a string lab
experiment procedure
experiment procedure
- the goal of this lab was to find the linear mass density of a wave on a string.
- in order to calculate this value we needed to find the tension and velocity. once we connected the string to the pulley and the oscillator we then needed to measure the tension. in order to find this value we added masses to the side of the string on the pulley until the string was completely straight and balanced. after we converted that weight to newtons, we then needed to find the wavelength. we measured the complete length of the string from the oscillator to the pulley. then we turned the oscillator on till it reached the second harmonic, when it was in the second harmonic we recorded the frequency shown on the oscillator. from there we multiplied the wavelength and frequency values to get the velocity. we then plugged in the tension and velocity values to find the linear mass density. to verify our experiment and linear mass density value, we repeated the same experiment except added more mass to the string.