Experiment No 5

Melde’s Experiment
Purpose

To determine the frequency of an electrically driven tuning fork using Melde’s experiment.
Apparatus
Electrically maintained tuning fork, stand with clamp and pulley, light weight pan, weight box,
Analytical Balance, battery with eliminator and connecting wires etc.
Theory

Tuning Fork
Pulley
String

Pan with weights

Travelling Wave

A sinusoidal travelling wave on a string is represented as

 2
y ( x, t )  y m sin   x  v t   (1)
  

The maximum displacement y m is called the amplitude of the sine curve. The quantity λ is the
wavelength of the disturbance. The wave as a whole is moving in the positive x direction with
speed v. The frequency f of the wave is given by v  f 

Wave Equation

y

F
θ+Δθ
θ

F

x
Consider waves on a string
Δx (mass/length = μ) subjected to a tension F. The components of force
on a segment of length Δx of this string are
Fx  F cos      F cos  0
Fy  F sin       F sin   F 

The equation governing the transverse motion of the segment is

2 y
 x  F 
t 2

y   2 y
But tan    sec 2  
x x x2

Because sec 2   1 , we have

2 y 1 2 y
 , (2)
x2 v 2 t 2
2 F
where v 


Eq. (2) is referred to as wave equation. Any function of the form f ( x  vt ) is its solution. Thus
Eq. (1) is also its solution provided

F
v (3)


Eq. (3) gives velocity of waves on a stretched string.

Standing Waves

Consider superposition of two travelling waves on a string of length L fixed at both ends:

y1 ( x, t )  y m sin  k x   t  and y 2 ( x, t )  y m sin  k x   t  ,

where k  2 /  and   2 f . The resultant wave is described by

y ( x, t )  2 y m sin(k x ) cos( t )

This is a standing wave. Nodes occur at points where

k x  n , n  0,1, 2,....... or x  n / 2, n  0,1, 2,......

By plucking the string in a suitable way, it is possible to excite standing waves on the string in
different modes characterized by their wavelengths λn. These are called normal modes. Any
general vibration of the string is a superposition of these normal modes. Since both ends of the
string are fixed, k L  n and hence
 2L
n  , n  1, 2, 3,.......
n

Using v  f n n , we get

n F n Mg
fn   , (4)
2L  2L 

where M is the total mass (weights + pan) hanging from the string. Eq.(4) gives the frequency of
the tuning fork that is used to excite standing waves on the string. First four normal modes of a
string of length L fixed at both ends are shown in figure. In a given normal mode, all points of a
string vibrate with the same frequency but with continuously varying amplitude. Any general
vibration of a string is a superposition of these normal modes. A normal mode with n=1 is called
fundamental. The nth normal mode is also known as nth harmonic. The quantity l  L / n is the
length per loop.

Procedure

1. Clamp the pulley to the edge of a table.

2. Clamp the tuning fork to its stand and keep it on the table at a distance of about 1 m from
the pulley. The tuning fork is electrically driven. In an electrically driven tuning fork, a
metal strip is kept adjacent to one of its prongs. The contact of the prong with the strip
can be made with the help of a screw. An electromagnet is placed between the two prongs
of the tuning fork. One end of the coil of the electromagnet is connected to the screw and
the other to the stem of the tuning fork through a battery and a resistor. When nthe current
 passes through the coil, the electromagnet becomes a magnet and attracts the prong
inward. As a result the contact of the metal strip and screw is broken and the current stops
flowing in the coil. The electromagnet loses its magnetism and the prongs return back to
their mean positions. However, due to their inertia prongs continue to move outward until
their outward velocity is reduced to zero. Now the contact between the metal strip and
screw is again made and whole process is repeated.
3. Tie one end of a string to the hook attached to the tuning fork and pass the other end over
the pulley. Attach a pan to the free end of the string in such a way so that the pan hangs
vertically downward.
4. Place a mass M1 on the pan. If M2 is the mass of the pan, the tension in the string is Mg =
(M1+M2)g.
5. Switch on the DC power supply for the electromagnet so that the tuning fork starts
vibrating. The oscillations of electrically driven tuning fork can be sustained. If the tuning
fork is not driven electrically, the oscillations disappear quickly due to damping.
6. By slowly moving the stand holding the tuning fork, change the length of the string
between the tuning fork and the pulley. Adjust this length so that string vibrates in first
normal mode (fundamental).
7. Switch off the DC power supply and measure the length of the string between the tuning
fork and pulley using a meter scale.
8. Again switch on the DC power supply for electromagnet and move the tuning fork slowly
so that the string vibrates in its second harmonic. This will occur when the length of the
string becomes double of the length used for first normal mode. Switch off the power
supply and measure the length of the string between the pulley and the tuning fork.
9. Repeat the above step to obtain next two normal modes of the string and measure the
corresponding lengths of the string.
10. Change the tension in the string and repeat the above procedure for the first four normal
modes of the string.

Precautions

1. The string should be thin, uniform and inextensible.

2. The pulley should be frictionless.
3. The loops formed in the string should be stationary.
4. Heavy weights should not be kept on the pan.
5. Weight of the pan should also be considered while calculating the tension in the string.

Observations

Total length of string = __________ m

Total mass of string = __________ kg
Mass per unit length of string μ = ___________ kg/m
Mass of pan M2 = __________ kg
Mass on pan M1 = __________ kg

S. No No of Length of Length per

fn 
1  M1  M 2  g
loops String L(m) loop l (m) 2l 

1 1

2 2

3 3

Construct similar table for one more value of mass on the pan.

Average value of fn is ____________ Hz

Result
The frequency fn of the electrically driven tuning fork is __________ Hz