Material Detail

Demonstrates waves on a loaded string--a very light (massless) string with a number of small masses attached to it at equal intervals. As the number of masses increases, the behavior of the loaded string more closely approximates the behavior of a real string where the mass is distributed continuously along its length. The user can adjust the number of particles, their initial positions, and the string tension and damping; can force the string at an adjustable frequency; can "pluck" any one of the masses; can apply a fixed force to any one of the masses; can adjust the amplitudes of the Fourier components; and can observe the the evolution of either the Fourier components (in various formats) or the left and right traveling wave components as the wave damps.

Disciplines:

• Science and Technology  / Physics  / Oscillations and Waves  / Waves