The Physics Classroom » Lesson Plans » Honors Physics » Vibrations, Waves, and Sound » Teacher Notes

Teacher Notes for Waves and Sound

 

Lesson Plans || Learning Outcomes and Activities || Teacher Notes || Labs
 

Unit Overview

This is a long unit and it could easily be divided into two units - one on Vibrations and Waves and one on Sound and Music. We've put it all together and went light on the topic of vibrations. We propose 17 days, starting with the idea of a vibrating object, transitioning to the topic of wave motion and all that it entails, and then applying wave principles to an understanding of sound waves and music. We have packed this unit with Concept Builders (9), Minds On Physics missions (8), Simulations and Concept Checkers (3), CalcPad problem sets (8), and hands-on lab experiences (9). Plan on some additional time for possible quizzes and tests.


 

Awkward Terrain

We have always found this general area of physics a bit difficult to organize. When it comes to textbooks, there seems to be little agreement on how to organize the topics of vibrational motion, wave motion, sound waves, and light waves. In some textbooks (mostly college physics), there's an entire chapter on vibrational motion and other textbooks devote a page to it. Some textbooks have separate chapters for waves and sound and other textbooks append the sound wave ideas to the end of the Waves chapter. In our own development of the site, we have used a variety of organizational schemes. This wasn't really planned. In our early years, we just tended to group resources for multiple topics together under one larger heading because we didn't have enough to group them under a single topic heading. So if we had only one Sound Wave simulation, we would group it with our two Wave simulations and put it under the heading Waves and Sound. We did the same with Concept Builders and other sections. Then when our first vibrational motion Concept Builder came along, we put it in our Waves and Sound section. Then we created seven Concept Builders for pendulum motion and simple harmonic motion and decided to create a Vibrational Motion section. 

So there is a rhyme and reason to the apparent madness but what we really wanted to say is we apologize. Sorry. You may need to look in a few places to find everything you need when it comes to the topics of Vibrations, Waves, and Sound. There's quite a bit of this on the site. It's just organized a bit awkwardly. 


 

The Calculator Pad (a.k.a., CalcPad)

The  Waves section and the Sound Waves section of our Calculator Pad includes 38 problem sets with well over 200 problems. We used this bank of problems to create eight custom CalcPad problem sets for the Honors Physics course. But if you need more problems, you will find them among these 38 problem sets. And with a Task Tracker subscription and our directions and video walk-through, you can even create your own custom problem sets or edit one of ours. 


 

Do You Do Desmos?

Desmos is an easy to  use online graphing calculator. It's ability to animate functions makes it a plus for Physics teaching. If you are interested in giving it a try, we are including three short and one long activity here:
 
  • Mathematical Modeling of Waves with Desmos: This is a short (~20-minute) activity that can be used very early in your development of wave properties.
  • Desmos Interference: Use wave functions to show the principle of superposition.
  • Desmos Beats: Enter a couple of wave functions, modify parameters, zoom in, and observer beats!
  • Musical Synthesizer Lab: This is a 1-day (or more) lab project in which students analyze a musical instrument of their choosing using sound probes and interface software to determine the wave pattern and mixtures of frequencies when a note is played. They then try to replicate (or synthesize) the wave pattern using  Desmos. The project was written for use with Logger Pro and Vernier interface equipment. Any comparable system will work.

And finally, here is a Standing Wave animation that shows how standing waves are formed from traveling waves: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/kmkh8itll3.


 

The HONORS Difference

When you compare the Lesson Plans and the Learning Outcomes for our on-level Physics course to our Honors Physics course, it may at first look the same. A deeper dive in just about every unit will reveal that while the Physics is much the same, the difficulty level is significantly different. In this unit (and many of our others), we have added a few additional labs. We have added the Mathematics of Musical Instruments Think Sheet and used a modified Waves Think Sheet. We have selected a few different Minds On Physics missions and Concept Builders. But most significantly, the CalcPad problem sets are significantly more difficult for the Honors Physics course compared to our on-level Physics course. Finally, the Honors Physics course spends some time relating the speed of a wave in a wire to the tension and linear density of the wire.



 

Project Time?

Looking for a project? Maybe we can help. One of our more recent Interactives is Sound Spectrum Viewer. Sound Spectrum Viewer is a tool and not a simulation. It can be used to capture the sound spectrum from any source. The Interactive will graphically display information about the frequencies (and their amplitudes) over the course of time as a waterfall plot. The tool is also capable of displaying a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the collected sound, making it a useful tool for analyzing the harmonics of musical instruments. It works well on computers, tablets, and phones. So if you have an idea for a project on sound, consider the use of our Sound Spectrum Viewer. Just give your device microphone a cleaning, visit the app, and start listening. Give your students a question to explore or let them come up with one of their own.


 

Science Reasoning Center

We have several Waves and Sound activities at our Science Reasoning Center. These provide a slightly different approach than Concept Builders or Minds On Physics. They tend to emphasize less conceptual development and more scientific processing, data interpretation, experimental analysis, etc. They often make great follow-ups to labs and can sometimes be used as an introduction to a topic. For most topics, they are great accompaniments to an NGSS curriculum. If you have a Task Tracker subscription, visit the Teacher Resources section in order to quickly preview the activity and navigate through all the questions. You will also find information there about NGSS alignments. Here are some of our favorites:
 
  1. Wave Speed
    Information about three short student experiments are presented to students. Students analyze the design of the experiment, identify appropriate claims and the supporting evidence for such claims, and use the patterns in the data to predict the result of subsequent trials. The activity includes a wide collection of questions that target the HS-PS4-1 performance expectation of NGSS.
  2. Slinky Experiments
    Students investigate experimental data to determine the nature of the speed-wavelength-frequency relationship for waves traveling in a uniform medium. Students plan an investigation to determine what variables do and don't affect the speed of a wave. And finally, students investigate the values of a wave from one medium to another to predict numerical values of wavelength and frequency.
  3. Standing Waves on a Rope
    Questions target a student's ability to understand the design of an experiment; to combine results from two or more data presentations in order to draw appropriate conclusions; to interpolate and extrapolate from data in a table; to predict the results of an additional trial; to translate information from a data table to a graph; and to make predictions based upon a model.
  4. Sound Intensity and the Decibel System
    Questions target a student's ability to identify and use the relationship between intensity and the deciBel rating; to read values from and to interpret a complex graph; to use data from two or more data presentations in order to compare two sounds; and to combine information from two or more data presentations in order to draw valid conclusions.
  5. The Sound of Music
    Questions target a student's ability to select information from a complex data table or a graph; to identify the relationship among the variables wavelength, frequency, speed, and harmonic number; to use such relationships to make comparisons of the sounds produced by two different air columns; and to combine information in a table with information in a graph in order to identify appropriate conclusions.


 

Other Resources

There are a few resources that we did not list in our Lesson Plans and Learning Outcomes and Activities that you may find to be very helpful. These include:
 
  1. Physics Interactives: The Particle Wave
    The Particle Wave simulation allows students to explore the nature and properties of a wave. Properties such as wavelength, amplitude, and speed can be changes. The effects of the change on the wave pattern and particle motion can be immediately observed. The simulation is accompanied by a Student Activity Sheet and a Concept Checker.
  2. Physics Interactives: Standing Wave Maker
    Students investigate the formation of standing waves, the vibrational patterns associated with the various harmonics, and the difference between transverse and longitudinal standing waves. The simulation is accompanied by an excellent Student Activity Sheet and a Concept Checker.
  3. Concept Builder: Matching Pairs - Wave Characteristics
    Students relate a wave quantity to its meaning, its symbol, its unit, and its definition. Quick. Great practice.
  4. Concept Builder: Waves - Case Studies
    Students relate the features of a wave pattern to the properties of a wave (such as frequency and speed) and the properties of a medium (such as tension and linear density of a string).
  5. Minds On Physics: Mission WM8 - Mathematics of Standing Waves
    Students utilize a combination of textual information and diagrams to mathematically analyze standing wave patterns.
  6. Minds On Physics: Mission SM2 - Characteristics of Sound Waves
    Students identify and describe the characteristics of amplitude, wavelength and frequency for a sound wave and identify factors effecting (and not effecting) the speed of a sound wave.
  7. Minds On Physics: Mission SM6 - Harmonics for String Instruments
    Students identify the standing wave patterns for stringed instruments and use them to state the length-wavelength relationships and identify the relationship between the frequencies of the various harmonics for stringed instruments.
  8. Minds On Physics: Mission SM8 - Harmonics for Open-End Air Columns
    Students relate the wavelength to the length of an air column and relate the frequency values of the various harmonics to one another
  9. Minds On Physics: Mission SM9 - Mathematics of Open-End Air Columns
    Students relate the wave speed, wave frequency, wavelength, and the length of an open-end air column for one of the harmonics.
  10. Minds On Physics: Mission SM11 - Mathematics of Closed-End Air Columns
    Students relate the wave speed, wave frequency, wavelength, and the length of a closed-end air column for one of the harmonics.


 

Teacher Presentation Pack

Yes. This is going to cost you ... money. But it is also going to pay you back big time in return ... time and the satisfaction that comes with managing your class and providing engaging lessons. Our Teacher Presentation Pack was designed for all Physics teachers; but we particularly had early-career and cross-over Physics teachers in mind. For them (and anyone), this can be a huge time saver and a life saver (excuse the slight exaggeration). It includes a large collection of Slide Decks, Lesson Notes, animations, and graphics for use in your classroom. Once downloaded, you can modify and customize the Slide Decks as needed. The slides are highly organized and (mostly) graphical; they make great graphic organizers for any student, and especially for the struggling student. Learn more.


 

Also Available ...

Physics teachers may find the following for-sale tools to be useful supplements to our Lesson Plan and Pacing Guide section:

 

  1. Task Tracker Subscription (annual purchase)
    A subscription allows teachers to set up classes, add students, customize online assignments, view student progress/scores, and export student scores. Task Tracker accounts allow your students to begin assignments in class or at school and to finish them at home. View our Seat and Cost Calculator for pricing details.
     
  2. The Solutions Guide
    We publish a free curriculum with >200 ready-to-use Think Sheets for developing physics concepts. The Solutions Guide is a download containing the source documents, PDFs of source documents, and answers/solutions in MS Word and PDF format. An expanded license agreement is included with the purchase. (Cost: $25 download)
     
  3. Teacher Presentation Pack
    This is a large collection of downloadable content packed with nearly 190 Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks, the corresponding Lesson Notes (as PDF and fully-modifiable MS Word format), about 170 animations (in .gif, .png, and .mp4 file formats), a countless number of ready-to-use images (including the original source documents that would allow for easy modification of those images), and a license that allows teachers to modify and use all the content with their classes on password-protected sites (such as course management systems).  (Cost: $40 download)
     
  4. Question Bank
    We distribute a Question Bank that includes more than 9300 questions neatly organized according to topic. The Question Bank is the perfect tool for busy teachers or new teachers. Even if you don't use the website with your classes, the Question Bank will assist you in quickly putting together quizzes, tests and other documents with high-quality questions that target student's conceptions of physics principles. And if you do use The Physics Classroom website, the Question Bank is the perfect complement to the materials found at the website. (Cost: $25 download)