Snakey Spring Lab Name __________________

Purpose:
What affects the speed of a wave? How do waves act when they intersect each other?

Materials:
 Snakey Spring, Stop watches, Foam cups

Pre lab discussion

Using a super slinky, send a pulse down and back. Use this for pre-lab discussion.
1. How is the motion of a pulse in the slinky different from the motion of a moving object such
as a car?

2. Below sketch what you observed when a pulse traveled through the slinky. Label any parts of
the pulse that you think are important.

3. Describe, using detail, how a particle on the spring (a point somewhere on the snakey) moves
when the pulse passes through it.

Reflection and superposition of wave forms

1. Mr. Gabel and a student can generate a disturbance (pulse) from both ends of the slinky at the
same time. When they move their hands in opposite directions from each other, predict what will
happen to the waves when they intersect each other.

a. Will they reflect or pass through one another?

b. Draw what the pulses will look like when they intersect.

c. What did the pulses actually look like? Did they reflect or pass through each other?
Explain how you know.

2. Now generate equal sized pulses from each end on the same side and compare the maximum
displacement when they meet with the original pulses. Use a cup to measure these displacements.

a. Predict and draw what the pulses will look like when they intersect.

b. What happened to the size of each wave when they intersected? Why did this happen?
When two or more waves simultaneously and independently travel through the same medium at
the same time, their effects are superpositioned. The result of that superposition is
called interference. There are two types of interference: constructive and destructive.

 Constructive interference occurs when the wave amplitudes reinforce each other,
building a wave of even greater amplitude.
 Destructive interference occurs when the wave amplitudes oppose each other, resulting
in waves of reduced amplitude.

3. When two pulses intersect each other and are on opposite sides of the equilibrium from each
other, what type of interference will be produced? Explain.

4. When two pulses intersect each other on the same side if the equilibrium, what type of
interference will be produced? Explain.

5. Draw what will happen when these two pulses collide the moment they collide and the
moment right after they collide (include arrows).
Moment of Collision Moment after Collision

6. Draw what will happen when these two pulses collide the moment they collide and the
moment right after they collide (include arrows).
Moment of Collision Moment after Collision

7. What is a practical application of this in the real world?

What affects the speed of a wave

1. With the help of two students, stretch a snakey spring to a length of 5m. Send a pulse down
the snakey spring.

2. Draw a motion diagram of the pulse at it moves down and back on the snakey spring.
3. Look at the list of predictions - which variables do you think will affect the speed of the
pulse?

Part I – Amplitude of the pulse:

1. Have snakey spring stretched to 5m.
2. Pull back snakey 0.5 tile (6 inches) on floor and send pulse down.
3. Record the time for the pulse to go down and back in table provided.
4. Repeat two more times. What type of motion did the pulse have?
5. Repeat steps 2-4, pulling back 1 tile (12 inches).
6. Repeat steps 2-4, pulling back 1.5 tiles (18 inches).
7. Repeat steps 2-4, pulling back 2 tiles (24 inches).

Data table: Amplitude

Height of Time (sec) Type of Speed
pulse (tiles) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Avg motion (m/s)
0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

Part II – Large vs small pulse (wavelength):

1. Have snakey spring stretched to 5m.
2. Set so pulse will be 1 tile wide.
3. Pull back snakey 1 tile on floor and send pulse down.
4. Record the time for the pulse to go down and back in table provided.
5. Repeat two more times. What type of motion did the pulse have?
6. Repeat steps 2-5 for pulse that is 2 tiles wide.
7. Repeat steps 2-5 for pulse that is 3 tiles wide.

Data table: Width (wavelength)

Width of Time (sec) Type of Speed
pulse (tiles) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Avg motion (m/s)
1 (12 in)

2 (24 in)

3 (36 in)

Part III – Large vs Small tension (representing a different medium or substance)

1. Have snakey spring stretched to 5m.
2. Pull back snakey 1 tile on floor and send pulse down.
3. Record the time for the pulse to go down and back in table provided.
4. Repeat two more times. What type of motion did the pulse have?
5. Repeat steps 2-5 for snakey that is stretched to 7m.

Data table: Tension

Tension of Time (sec) Type of Speed
snakey (m) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Avg motion (m/s)
5
 7

Post Lab Homework Questions

1. What is a pulse?

2. Does the speed of a pulse change as the pulse travels along the spring? How do you know?

3. Did changing the height of the pulse (amplitude) affect the speed of the pulse? Explain using
your data.

4. Did changing the size of the pulse (pulse wavelength) affect the speed of the pulse? Explain
using your data.

5. As we increased the wavelength of the pulse, what would happen to the frequency if it were a
standing wave?

6. Did changing the tension of the snakey affect the speed of the pulse? Explain using your
data.

7. What was changing the tension of the spring representing we did? What do you need to
change in order for the speed of the pulse to change?

8. Draw what the reflected wave of the wave below will look like.
9. What type of wave was shown through this activity?
__________________________________

10. What is transferred from one place to another in each of these waves?
____________________
Activity 1: Wave Pulses

In this section of the lab you will create different types of waves in order to discuss the differences and similarities between them.

1. Stretch the slinky out on the table. Shake the slinky sharply to the right or left one time to produce a wave pulse.
Make three sketches of what the slinky looked like at three different times to show the progression of the wave.

2. Is this a transverse or longitudinal wave?

3. With the slinky still stretched, sharply push the slinky inward one time. Make three sketches of what the slinky
looked like at three different times to show the progression of the wave.

4. Is this a transverse or longitudinal wave?

5. In what ways are these two waves different and in what ways are they the same?
Place a light object like an empty Styrofoam cup beside the slinky near one end. Create a transverse wave pulse
from the other end that causes the cup to move.

6. The object was initially at rest, and then began to move. What type of energy did the cup gain?

7. Where did this energy come from?

8. Would this experiment have worked with a longitudinal wave (with the cup in the same position)? Explain your
reasoning.

have students measure the time it takes a pulse to make a round trip on the stretched spring for several
pulses.