Investigating into How the Depth of Water has an Affect on the Speed of the Wave

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Anuradha Patel                Physics Coursework

Investigating into How the Depth of Water has an Affect on the Speed of the Wave

Aim

The aim of this experiment is to investigate the relationship between the depth of water and the speed of the wave in it. By studying the speed of a single wave in the water as it travels along a tray it is possible to find how the depth of the water affects the speed of the wave. I will generate the pulse in the tray of water by dropping the tray from a height of 5cm.

Background Knowledge

A wave is a continuous movement of individual particles to form a way of transportation of water, light, sound and others such as paraphernalia.  There are two different types of waves shown below.

Transverse waves are waves that cause a crosswise disturbance of the medium through which they travel.

Longitudinal waves are waves that have vibrations travelling in the same direction as the wave itself.

In my experiment I will be studying transverse waves. The speed of the wave may be calculated by timing the motion of the wave from one end of the tray to the other. A measurement of how far the wave travelled as it move backwards and forwards will be needed.

I will use the following equation to work out the speed of the wave:

Hypothesis

I predict that the greater the depth of water, the faster the waves will travel. The reason for this is that when the water is shallow, the container bottom begins to interfere with water motion. The bottom constrains the water motion and results in a dragging affect on the waves. Also, the deeper the water the greater the mass and therefore force of the wave, which creates more momentum and speed.

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I also predict that my graph will be a curve. I predicted that the greater the depth the faster the wave will travel, however at a certain depth the wave will reach an optimum speed that it will not be able to exceed hence the graph will be in the shape of a curve.  The reason that the speed of the wave will reach an optimum is because the water will come to a depth where there is enough water for it not to interact with the bottom of the tray and there will then be no reason for ...

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