Waves
Lesson # 1
What are waves?
Time frame: 60 minutes
Please write the vocabulary on the board before each lesson
Vocabulary
Wave - A disturbance in medium that transfers energy from place to place
Medium - A substance that a wave can travel through
Objectives
Students will be able to
1) Investigate the motions of waves to identify patterns
2) Create experiments showing the movement of waves in liquids, solids and gasses
Introduction-Focus Activity
Introduce students to waves by having them make observations of waves and come up with what they think the definition is. While they are making their observations, explain to them that waves travel through a medium. A medium is a material through which a wave travels through. Media in which waves can travel through include: gases (such as air), liquids (such as water), and solid (such as rope). In this lesson, students will conduct experiments and observe how waves travel through these media.
Station 1 (Preferably outside) - Waves in liquids
Materials:
A bin, a ball and water.
Fill 3 or 4 bins with water and let students disturb the water to make waves. Ask them to think about the following questions which the class will discuss at the end:
- What makes waves?
- What do waves carry?
- What patterns do they make? How many patterns can you notice?
- What carries waves?
Ask them to put a ball at one end of the bin and make the waves. Let them observe what happens to the ball. Does it move or does it stay on one side of bin?
Explain to students that when waves travel through water, they don’t carry the water or the ball with them, they only carry the energy.
Station 2 Waves through solids
Materials:
Slinky and a rope
1) Two students hold a slinky at each end and stretch it on the floor. Do NOT over stretch the slinky.
2) Now, move one end of the spring back and forth on the floor. Notice the shape that the slinky makes and draw a diagram of it in your notebook.
3) Repeat step 2, increasing the rate (but not the distance) at which you move the slinky back and forth. Observe the waves you create.
4) After the students are done with the slinky, they should switch to using the rope.
5) Two students hold the rope at each end. One student should move it up and down. Slow at first and then faster.
6) What differences do they notice between the waves formed by the slinky and those by the rope?
Station 3 Waves in gases (Technology)
-Set up a station of 2-3 iPads.
-Using the app “Audio Tool,” tell students to make different noises and sounds and watch what kinds of waves their noises make (They can scream and yell for this exercise)
or
Use sound box.
- Put rice or anything light on the plastic.
- Put some music on, turn it up as loud as it can go (ear plugs provided) and watch the vibration caused by the sound waves make the rice bounce up and down.
- Ask students to think about why that is happening.
Concepts
Discuss:
- What makes waves?
- What do waves carry?
- What patterns do they make? How many patterns can you notice?
- What carries waves?
Explain to students that energy can move as a wave through materials such as ropes, springs, air and water. A wave is a periodic disturbance in some medium that carries energy from one place to another. A medium (solid, liquid, gas) is the matter through which the wave moves - in this case a rope. When you shake a rope, you see the effects of energy being transferred from your hand to the rope.
Conclusion/Assessment
Discuss the following questions with students. Ask them to refer to the experiments to help come up with answers.
- What makes waves?
- What do waves carry?
- What patterns do they make? How many patterns can you notice?
- What carries waves?