Lesson Plan: Standing Waves
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe the structures of standing waves that can form by resonance with objects of different lengths.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that a traveling wave that reflects at a boundary changes its phase by radians,
- recall that a standing wave is formed by the superposition of a traveling wave directed toward a boundary and the reflected wave from the boundary,
- recognize that for a standing sound wave in a pipe, the amplitude of the wave must be zero at the closed end of the pipe,
- recognize that for a standing sound wave in a pipe, the amplitude of the wave must be at its maximum at the open end of the pipe,
- recognize that for a pipe of length that is open at one end, the standing sound waves that can exist in the pipe have wavelengths given by , where is an odd integer,
- recognize that for a pipe of length that is open at both ends, the standing sound waves that can exist in the pipe have wavelengths given by , where is an integer.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- superpositions of waves.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- waves on strings.
