Did the wave slow down as it bounced back and forth along the spring?

Transverse vs. Longitudinal Put your group’s definitions and diagrams on a whiteboard.

Definitions Transverse wave – A particle in the medium will move perpendicular to the direction the wave is traveling as the pulse passes through it.

Definitions Longitudinal wave – A particle in the medium will move parallel to the direction the wave is traveling as the pulse passes through it.

Conclusions from WS 1? Wave races The speed of a wave pulse is constant unless the tension or spring type is changed. – Amplitude, pulse width, and distance traveled do NOT affect wave speed. – The tighter the spring, the faster the wave moves.

Conclusions Fixed vs. free end? For a fixed end reflection, the wave “flips.”

Conclusions For a free end reflection, the wave doesn’t “flip.”

What happens when two wave pulses collide?

Interference – Two (or more) waves “collide,” but pass through each other undamaged – Superposition Principle: when waves interfere with each other, the resulting wave is the sum of their amplitudes at each point. – What would it be like if superposition existed for objects?

Destructive Interference

Constructive Interference

crests aligned with crests waves are “in phase”

Destructive Interference crests aligned with troughs waves are “out of phase”

Interference – Combine the amplitudes of the waves Above axis is positive, below is negative – The result is the superposition of the waves – Constructive  wave gets bigger – Destructive  wave gets smaller