CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: PRACTICAL TEACHER’S GUIDE

8 Waves
CHAPTER OUTLINE
This chapter relates to Chapter 12: Waves and Chapter 14: Stationary waves, in the Coursebook.
In this chapter learners will complete investigations on:
• 8.1 Stationary waves on a wire carrying a current
• 8.2 Inverse square law for waves from a point source
• 8.3 Refraction of light waves by a lens.

Practical investigation 8.1: Stationary waves on a

wire carrying a current
Skills focus
See the Skills grids for details of the skills developed and used in this investigation.

Duration
The practical work will take about 30 minutes; the analysis will take about 30 minutes.

Preparing for the investigation

• In this investigation learners set up a stationary wave in a wire. The wire is made to vibrate by positioning
the wire in a magnetic field and passing an alternating current through it.
• The a.c. frequency is fixed at mains frequency. But learners can vary the tension in the wire to change the
wavelength of the stationary wave.
• The magnetic field is produced by two Magnadur magnets attached to a steel yoke, as shown in Figure 8.1.
top view side view

magnets magnets

yoke

Figure 8.1

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You will need

Equipment
• pulley wheel to clamp to edge of bench
• 1.2 m length of 30 SWG constantan wire
(copper wire of the same 0.315 mm diameter
can be used as an alternative)
• triangular prism (glass or wood) tall enough to
touch the wire at any position along the length
• two Magnadur magnets and a steel yoke (see
Figure 8.1)
• 2 V mains frequency a.c. power supply. Write
the mains frequency value clearly on the top of
the supply.
• two connecting leads, each with a clip at
one end
• 100 g mass hanger
• two 100 g slotted masses and a 50 g slotted
mass
• metre rule with a millimetre scale
• A4 sheet of dark-coloured paper
• See Figure 8.1 in the Workbook for the
arrangement. You should partially assemble
the apparatus for the learners. Clamp the wire
between the wooden blocks. Securely fix the
mass hanger to the other end of the wire.

Safety considerations
• As the wire is under tension from the start, learners must wear safety goggles.
• There is no safety issue with the very low voltage electrical supply.

Carrying out the investigation

• A poor connection between a clip and the constantan wire can lead to weak vibrations which are harder to
detect. Squeezing the jaws of the clip together usually cures this problem.
In step 8 learners may move the prism position too quickly when searching for the stationary wave.
They need to understand that the amplitude takes time to build up at the resonant length.
You will need to remind some learners to include a quantity and correct unit for the column headings in all
their tables.
If some learners complete the task quickly, they could be asked to write a description of a much simpler
procedure for finding the value of µ for the wire.

Sample results
See Table 8.1.

M / kg L/m λ/m λ2 / m2
0.100 0.391 0.782 0.612
0.150 0.471 0.942 0.887
0.200 0.542 1.084 1.175
0.250 0.606 1.212 1.469
0.300 0.657 1.314 1.727
0.350 0.712 1.424 2.028
Table 8.1

Answers to the workbook questions (using the sample results)

a, b See Table 8.1 (unshaded section).
c, d See Figure 8.1.

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2.5

2.0

1.5

λ 2 / m2

1.0

0.5

0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
M / kg

Figure 8.1

e Gradient = 5.65 and intercept = 0.044

f The player changes the wavelength by holding down the string at a different distance from its end.
g
g µ=
gradient × f 2
9.81
=
5.65 × 502
= 6.95 × 10−4 kg m−1

Practical investigation 8.2: Inverse square law for

waves from a point source
Skills focus
See the Skills grids for details of the skills developed and used in this investigation.

Duration
The practical work will take about 20 minutes and the analysis will take about 30 minutes.

Preparing for the investigation

• In this practical exercise learners use a light-dependent resistor to monitor the light level (illuminance) at
different distances from a small lamp. A graph is plotted to see if the data obeys an inverse square law.
• The 6 V lamp is run at 9 V to provide a brighter point source.

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You will need

Equipment
• A4 sheet of black paper rolled into a tube big
enough for the rule to be pushed inside. Hold
it in this shape using tape.
• 6 V 0.05 A miniature filament lamp (torch bulb)
in a holder with connecting leads attached.
Mount it inside the end of the tube, as shown in
Figure 8.3 in the Workbook. Use black tape to
seal it in position and exclude unwanted light.
• additional lamp (to be used when estimating
the filament position inside the bulb)
• 9 V power supply
• two connecting leads
• light-dependent resistor (LDR) type ORP12 with
extended connecting leads. Use tape to attach
it to the zero end of a half-metre rule with a
millimetre scale, as shown in Figure 8.3 in the
Workbook.
• ruler with a millimetre scale
• ohmmeter
• digital callipers.

Safety considerations
The lamps have glass domes. If handled roughly these could break and cause cuts, so step 2 should be carried
out carefully.

Carrying out the investigation

• In step 4 learners are left to choose their own positions of the LDR for taking readings. Advise them to
spread the readings so that a large part of the available range is used, but with larger changes as B increases.
This avoids too much bunching of points at one end of the graph. See Sample results.
You may need to remind learners to record all their length readings to the nearest mm (even the B values
which learners can set to a whole number of cm).
You will need to remind some learners to include a quantity and correct unit for the column headings in all
their tables
If more confident learners have finished the investigation and are familiar with log–log graphs, they could
check the equation given in step c by deriving it themselves from the manufacturer’s characteristic given in
Workbook Figure 8.6.

Common learner misconceptions

It is good practice to keep the ohmmeter on the same range setting (20 kΩ) throughout the experiment, even at
low resistances. Changing range sometimes causes jumps in the sequence of data.

Sample results
A = 26.5 cm E = 1.3 cm
Also see Table 8.2.

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Answers to the workbook questions (using the sample results)

a, b, c See Table 8.2 (unshaded sections).
B / cm x / cm 1
/ cm−2 1
/ m−2 R / kΩ L / lux
x2 x2

21.0 6.8 0.021 63 216.3 0.86 1687

19.0 8.8 0.012 91 129.1 1.22 1071
17.0 10.8 0.008 57 85.7 1.67 712
15.0 12.8 0.006 10 61.0 2.09 532
13.0 14.8 0.004 57 45.7 2.61 398
9.0 18.8 0.002 83 28.3 3.71 252
1.0 26.8 0.001 39 13.9 6.26 128

Table 8.2

d, e See Figure 8.2.

1800

1600

1400

1200

1000
L / lux
800

600

400

200

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
1 / m−2
x2

Figure 8.2

f Gradient = 7.71 and intercept = 44.2

g For proportionality, points must lie close to a straight line which passes close to the origin.

Practical investigation 8.3: Refraction of light waves

by a lens
Skills focus
See the Skills grids for details of the skills developed and used in this investigation.

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Duration
The practical work will take about 20 minutes; the analysis will take about 40 minutes.

Preparing the investigation

• The investigation does not involve a graph. Instead, it measures two sets of results and compares how well
they fit a suggested relationship.
• In this exercise learners measure the dimensions of a lens to find the radius of curvature of its surfaces. They
produce an image on a screen to finds its focal length. These values are used with the lens maker’s formula to
find the refractive index.
• Use an LED torch as the bright object because it gives a clear image on the screen even in a brightly
lit room.

You will need

Equipment
• two 50 mm diameter biconvex lenses, one • white screen of A4 size with a block of wood
of focal length 10 cm and the other of attached so that it can stand vertically on the bench
focal length 20 cm • small torch using at least three LEDs as its light
• digital callipers source
• metre rule.

Safety considerations
There are no special safety issues with this experiment.

Carrying out the investigation

• When using the torch and screen in step 3 learners must position them carefully at the stated distance
apart. Learners must keep the axis of the lens in line with the torch and screen as they move them to find
the image.
In step 2 the measurement of E is difficult because the jaws of the callipers tend to slide off the glass
surfaces. Learners may find it easier to position the jaws close to the edge without making contact.
If there is time, learners could measure u and v for different torch positions to confirm that the value of f
remains the same.

Sample results
See Tables 8.3 and 8.4.

D / mm T / mm E / mm C / mm R / mm
Thinner lens 50.00 4.31 1.71 2.60 241
Thicker lens 50.00 7.86 2.41 5.45 116
Table 8.3

u / cm v / cm f / cm R / cm η
Thinner lens 32.0 58.0 20.6 24.1 1.58
Thicker lens 11.2 78.8 9.81 11.6 1.59
Table 8.4

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Answers to the workbook questions (using the sample results)

a See Table 8.3 (unshaded section).
b See Table 8.4 (unshaded section).
c Percentage difference between η values = 0.63%
d Using 0.5 cm as the absolute uncertainty for u gives:
0.5
percentage uncertainty in u =
11.2
= 4.5%
e The variation in η values could be due to variation in the data because the percentage uncertainty in the
data is greater than the percentage difference in η.
f Example: E was difficult to measure as the callipers could only grip the curved surfaces rather than the edge.
g Example: The lens could be rolled along a surface (e.g. carbon paper on white paper, or modelling clay) to
leave a mark, and then the width of the mark could be measured.

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