WAVES

Objective
The main objectives for this
experiment is to demonstrate the
reflection of a wave to
understand its property and
variety of ways that wave patterns
can be generated.
RIPPLE TANK
 Materials
1. Acrylic Sheets
2. Acrylic Cutters
3. Acrylic Mate
4. Stopwatch
5. Sandpaper
6. Aluminium sheets
7. holder
 Experiment Setup
1. Measure 5 sheets of acrylic : 1 sheet of 30 x 40
cm, 2 sheets of 30 x 10 cm, and 2 sheets of 40 x
10 cm
2. Cut the acrylic sheets with the acrylic cutter.
 STEP 3-4
3. Use sandpaper to scrub all the sides of all acrylic
sheets to smoothen and even out the sides.
4. Prepare 7 sheets of aluminium : 1 sheet of 28 x 10
cm, 2 sheets of 13 x 10 cm, 3 sheets of 8 x 10 cm,
and 1 curve sheets with the height of 10 cm and
make half circle of 28 cm diameter
5. Use marker to mark 2 lines, the first line 10 STEP 5-7
cm apart from the edge and the second line 5
cm apart from the first line, on the 2 sheets
of 30 x 10 cm
6. Use marker to mark another 8 cm line : 15 cm
from the edge, onto the 30 x 40 acrylic sheet
7. Use acrylic cutter to cut half into the lines
that we mark
 STEP 8-9

8. Stick the aluminium sheets onto the lines : 13 x

10 cm onto the first line, and 8 x 10 cm onto
the second and third lines
9. Stick all the acrylic sheets together using
acrylic mate, making up a box with no cover
 STEP 10-12
10. Place the curve aluminium sheet onto the
30 x 40 acrylic sheet
11. Prepare the holder made up of pipe
12. Place the acrylic box onto the holder
Introduction

Properties of plane waves such as reflection, refraction,interference, and

diffraction can be demonstrated by using the ripple tank experiment. The process of
observation are to create waves and watch the shadow reflected under the tank. Focusing
on the interference on this project, two types of interference are expected, one is single
slit and the other is double slits. The wave generators (which in this case is a sheet of
metal we will repeatedly tap) will create waves, which will pass through the slit(s).
 As waves passes through the slits, they diffract, creating an overlap between waves
and thus generating interference patterns. Another thing to be observed is reflection.
For this experiment, we decided only to observe circular reflection.The semi-circular
aluminium sheet will be the barrier for the wave fronts to reflect off of. This will make
the straight wave reflected and focus onto a point then the straight wave will change
into a circular wave.
To create a ripple tank, use a clear acrylic sheet to
make the tank for observing the reflection of the
wave. Different shape of aluminium sheets will be
put in one by one put in to create different wave
shapes.
 Procedure
Experiment phase

1. Build the Acrylic tank

2. Set up the slits for one slit interference
3. Use one piece of rectangular metal sheet and
tap on the water many times, observe the
wave pattern.
4. Repeat with two slit interference setup.
5. Repeat with circular screen
 Single slit
Interference
 Double Slit
Interference
 Circular
reflection
 Data Analysis
So as you can see, the pictures arent
really clear, mostly because the acrylic is too
dense to let light through so instead of
observing the pattern on the tracing paper
below, we had to look at it directly on the
tank. But, we did observe the fact that the
waves did refract & changed patterns as it
went through the slits, also the waves properly
reflect off the circular screen, proving the
property of reflection.
So in the end, the waves properties of Conclusion
interference, reflection, and refraction proves
true. First, the interference properties of the
waves are proved true, as the two slits
interferences demonstrate the constructive &
destructive interference. Next, waves are also
said to go around obstacles, that is why you can
see the wave fronts change as they pass through
the slits. Also, the reflection of the circular
screen proves the waves property of reflection.
 Recommendation
Use a much much more transparent acrylic material.
Find a more uniform way to generate the waves.
Find a way to secure the Aluminum sheet to the tank
firmly.
Due to a limitation of budget, the number of acrylic
cutter we can afford to buy is limited as well. So The work
can be done by one person at the time, combining with a
small amount of time, the project can be done properly.
References
Serbanescu, R. (2015). Wave phenomena: ripple tank experiments . Retrieved from utoronto:

https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~phy225h/experiments/ripple/RIPPLE.pdf