Lesson Plan: Waves in Different Media
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to compare the motion of sound waves and light waves in different media.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that a source of waves radiates in all directions,
- recall that mechanical waves must propagate in a medium and that electromagnetic waves do not require a medium,
- recall what is meant by the term wave speed,
- use the formula speed ,
- recognize that different types of waves can have different wave speeds,
- recognize that the speed of sound in air is affected by properties of the air such as temperature and humidity.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the formula speed .
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- the value of the speed of light,
- the formula speed = frequency wavelength,
- nontrivial calculations requiring rearrangement of the formula speed (but ranking speeds, times, and distances for different waves is allowed).
