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Blog

Sound Wave Interference

1/13/2020

Comments

 
A major concept in our waves unit is superposition and wave cancellation. Whether we are discussing the double slit experiment or noise cancelling headphones it is always a really cool bit of physics to think about.

I have seen several models demonstrating this phenomenon using transverse waves ([1],[2],[3]) but never anything tangible with longitudinal waves like sound so I decided to change that.
Picture
It took a lot of trial and error and I went through a handful of different approaches until I finally had a longitudinal waveform that I was happy with. The result is a file to be printed out on transparencies (I was able to track down several packs in our school but you can find some here if you need some). The way that the image is designed, these waveforms can be overlaid on top of each other to simulate destructive interference.
Longitudinal Wave Interference (pdf)
File Size: 219 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Longitudinal Wave Interference (editable)
File Size: 96 kb
File Type: pptx
Download File


Part 1 - Extra Signal

I start the lesson by providing every student (or group) a copy of Wave A. We spend a moment discussing the properties of this particular longitudinal wave and make note of the areas of high and low pressure modeled by molecule density as presented with dots.
Picture
After describing the parts of this longitudinal wave and discussing the nature of sound as a pressure wave, I introduce the idea of active noise cancelling headphones and how they can create silence by introducing additional sound waves

I then pass out a copy of Wave B.  Notice that this wave is essentially the same diagram but it starts with an area of high pressure (compression) rather than an area of low pressure (rarefaction)
Picture
Picture
Now that everyone has a copy of each wave, I instruct them to overlay the transparencies and observe how the pattern changes. When carefully overlapped, the result is a satisfying field of uniform dots. This represents how adding a signal can eliminate the pressure wave all together and cancel out the sound.
Picture

Part 2 - Wave Shift

Now that students have experienced how waves can cancel each other out to produce a uniform density we shift our focus to how this same result can be produced by shifting the original signal. Since all of the waves have been passed out to the class at this point, I instruct students to swap so that they are left with two Wave A transparencies or two Wave B transparencies. From there, I simply challenge them to produce the same uniform image using two of the same waveform. Of course, the solution is to simply shift one of the waves over half a phase so that the high and low pressures line up.
Picture

Files

Below are the downloadable files longitudinal wave interference transparencies. Please use and share freely for non-commercial purposes. If you have any questions or ideas, leave a comment below :)
Longitudinal Wave Interference (pdf)
File Size: 219 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Longitudinal Wave Interference (editable)
File Size: 96 kb
File Type: pptx
Download File

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    Joe Cossette

    Father, Physics Teacher, Knowles Fellow, Friend, Techie, and Musician

    "Learning to teach teaches me to learn"


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