Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Ripple Tank

Vocabulary: constructive interference, crest, destructive interference, diffraction, Huygens’

Principle, interference, law of superposition, node, refraction, trough, wave, wavelength

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. The image below shows small ripples, or waves, moving through water in a pond. Circle the
description below that you think describes the motion of a wave most accurately.

A. Each wave consists of a set of water molecules moving

outward from the center.

B. When a wave passes, water molecules move up and

down before returning to near their original position.

Crests Wavelength Crests

2. Waves have crests (high points) and troughs (low
points). The wavelength of a wave is the distance
between adjacent crests (or troughs). Label the crests,
the trough, and the wavelength on the image at left.

Trough
Gizmo Warm-up
A ripple tank, such as the one shown in the Ripple Tank
Gizmo, is a shallow pan of water with a vibrating motor that
produces waves. The tank is lit from above so that the wave
crests and troughs are visible. Ripple tanks are particularly
useful because many properties of water waves are shared by
other kinds of waves that are harder to see.

Check that Open tank is selected and the Wavelength is

4.0 cm. Click Play ( ) and observe. Click Pause ( ) when
the first wave reaches the right edge of the tank.

1. The light regions represent troughs while the dark areas represent crests.

About how much simulation time does it take the wave to cross the tank?

Two seconds
2. Click Reset ( ). Set the Wavelength to 16.0 cm, and click Play. Click Pause when the
waves reach the edge. How did increasing the wavelength affect the shape and speed of
the waves?

The wave was wider and moved faster. (It took only about one second to cross the tank.
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:  Click Reset. Check that the Barrier with 3-cm gap
is selected and the Wave strength is 1.20.
Diffraction
 Remove the arrows from the tank.
 Set the Wavelength to 6.0 cm.

Question: What factors control diffraction?

1. Investigate: Click Play, wait for the waves to reach the right side of the tank, and click
Pause. Sketch the waves in the left picture. Click Reset, and repeat the procedure with the
Barrier with 6-cm gap selected. (You will have to set the Wavelength to 6.0 cm again.)

2. Predict: Which wave to you think will diffract through a larger angle when it passes through a

barrier with a 10-cm gap: A wavelength of 5.0 cm or a wavelength of 30.0 cm? __________

3. Test: Select the Barrier with 10-cm gap. Play simulations with wavelengths of 5.0 cm and

30.0 cm. What do you notice? _________________________________________________

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4. Summarize: In general, what is the relationship between diffraction and the ratio of

wavelength to gap width? ____________________________________________________

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5. Apply: A typical sound wave has a wavelength of 1 meter. The wavelength of green light is
about 500 billionths of a meter. Which type of wave will tend to diffract more through a
narrow gap that is about 1 centimeter wide? Explain.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
 Select Single central source. Check that the
Interference Wavelength is 16.0 cm.
 Set the Wave strength to 1.00.

Question: What happens when waves combine?

1. Observe: Press Play. Describe the waves you see: _______________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Where might you see waves like this in nature? ___________________________________

2. Observe: Select Two central sources and set the Wave strength to 1.00. Press Play. What

do you notice when the waves from the two sources collide? ____________________

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3. Sketch: In the box at right, shade in any areas that

seem to stay at the same height all the time. (Note:
The two wave sources are marked with dots.)

4. Conjecture: Why do you think there are places that

stay near an average height all the time?

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5. Analyze: A helpful characteristic of combined waves is that they can be analyzed separately.
To calculate the height of a point that is affected by two waves, simply add the heights of each
wave. This idea is called the law of superposition.

Suppose the two waves shown below are combined. Sketch what the resulting wave would look
like. (Hint: Add up the two waves at each point (A with A, B with B, etc), and then trace the
resulting curve.)

+ =

(Activity C continued on next page)

Activity C (continued from previous page)

6. Apply: When two waves affect an area at once, they experience interference. In some
cases interference results in larger waves. This is constructive interference. When the
result is smaller waves (or no wave at all) it is called destructive interference.

A. In the example from question 5, where did you find constructive interference?

___________________________________________________________________

B. Which region experienced destructive interference? __________________________

7. Observe: Click Reset. Set the Wavelength to 32.0 cm and the Wave strength to 1.00.
The sources shown in the Gizmo are 24 cm apart. Click Play. Focusing only on the area
between the sources, drag arrows to two points where the depth never changes. These
points are called nodes and experience destructive interference at all times.

8. Sketch: To understand the position of the nodes, consider the first image below. The
image shows the waves produced by the left source on top and the waves produced by the
second source on the bottom. “C” stands for crest, “T” for trough, and “N” for node. Note that
the waves are in sync—crests are produced at both sources at the same time.

In a certain period of time, both waves will move 4 centimeters. In the image below, label the
crests, troughs, and nodes for each wave at this time. (Remember that the top wave moves
to the right while the bottom wave moves to the left.)

9. Observe: In the second image, what do you notice at points 4 and 20?
________________

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How do these points compare to the nodes you marked in the Gizmo? _________________

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(Activity C continued on next page)
Activity C (continued from previous page)

10. Analyze: In the previous example, points 4 and 20 are nodes because the two waves
always cancel out at these points. If there is a crest from the first wave source, there is a
trough from the second wave source. Consider the first node, at point 4.

A. How far did the first wave travel to get to point 4? __________

B. How far did the second wave travel to get to point 4? __________

C. What is the difference in these two distances? __________

D. How does this distance relate to the wavelength? ____________________________

In general, if the difference in distances is 0.5 wavelengths, 1.5 wavelengths, 2.5

wavelengths, and so on, the waves will interfere perfectly and the points will be nodes.

11. Calculate: Click Reset. Change the Wavelength to 12.0 cm. Fill in the table below. (Note:
x is the distance of a point from the left source.) Recall that the sources are 24 cm apart.

Distance wave
Distance wave Difference in Distance difference
must travel from
x must travel from distances
second source Wavelength
first source (cm) (cm)
(cm)
3
6
9
12

12. Predict: Based on your chart, which distances from the first source will be nodes?

_________________________________________________________________________

13. Test: Click Play and observe. The image at

right is taken from the Gizmo with a distance
scale superimposed. What do you notice?

_______________________________________

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14. On your own: Interference occurs any time waves interact. Explore the interference
patterns that occur in the Two gaps and Barrier at edge configurations in the Gizmo. Click
the camera ( ) icon to take a snapshot of interesting interference patterns. Right-click the
image, and click Copy Image. Paste the images into a blank word document to present your
15.
discoveries.
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity D:
 Select Rectangular submerged rock.
Refraction  Check that the Wavelength is 10.0 cm and the
Wave strength is 1.80.

Question: What happens when a wave is slowed down?

1. Observe: Press Play. What happens to the wave when it reaches the submerged rock?

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2. Find a pattern: Try different values for the rock’s Depth. How does this affect the results?

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3. Conjecture: Select Slanted submerged rock. Check that the Depth is 25%. What do you
think will happen when the wave reaches the rock?

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4. Test: Press Play. Click Pause when the waves are halfway across the rock and observe
the pattern. Click Play, and then click Pause again when the waves are leaving the rock.

A. What happened to the direction of the waves when they hit the rock? ____________

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B. What happened to the direction of the waves when they moved past the rock?

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5. Investigate: Click Reset. The change of direction a wave experiences when it’s speed
changes is called refraction. Investigate how the depth of the submerged rock affects the
amount of refraction that occurs. Describe your results below.

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