College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
3B22.14 - Standing Waves in a Wire
Connect the wave generator directly to the wire, and amplify the signal if necessary. Or, you can also use the Mechanical Oscillator. Run an AC signal of low frequency ( 0 to 1000 Hz.) through the wire or Oscillator. As a magnet is brought near one end of the wire, standing waves will appear. Adjust the frequency or wire tensions to achieve maximum amplitude.
- Ray Scott Wakeland and Bennet Brabson, "Wave Speed on a String Revisited", TPT, Vol. 28, # 1, Jan. 1990, p. 57.
- J.W. Jewett, J.V. Spadaro, "Vibrating String Resonance Spectra on the Oscilloscope", AJP, Vol. 50, # 6, June 1982, p. 570.
- H. G. Hornung and M. J. Durie, "Stiffness Corrections for the Vibration Frequency of a Stretched Wire", AJP, Vol. 45, # 10, Oct. 1977, p. 991.
- J. Morris Blair, "A Variaiton on Melde's Experiment", AJP, Vol. 38, #11, Nov. 1970, p. 1317.
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