Four Important Properties of Waves

Cornell Science Inquiry Partnerships Cornell University http://csip.cornell.edu

Teacher’s Guide

by Thomas Oberst, CSIP Graduate Student Fellow, Cornell University

Overview A mix of teacher demonstrations and hands-on student experiments grounded by a thought- provoking student worksheet and a power point presentation introduce four important properties of waves: reflection, refraction, diffraction, and interference. I consider waves to be the most important single phenomenon in all of physics. Much of our lives rely on waves. Everything we see is due to light waves. Everything we hear is due to sound waves. We feel heat from infrared waves. We use cell phones, radios, and TVs which employ radio waves to bring us closer to the rest of the world. Microwaves heat our food. And gravity waves keep the Earth near the sun and hold the Universe together in a way that makes it possible for us to be here. Waves are fundamental, and their presence and properties are best manifested through reflection, refraction, diffraction, and interference.

Subject Physical Science

Audience 6-12th grade Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science

Time Required 1-2 class periods (45-90 minutes)

Background Students should be familiar with the basic definition of a wave, the difference between a transverse and longitudinal wave, and amplitude, frequency, wavelength (or color), and speed of a wave.

Learning and Behavioral Objectives Strengthens basic understanding of general wave characteristics and teaches students about the wave properties of reflection, refraction, diffraction and interference.

National Science Education Standards Light; Sound; Properties of waves; Transfer of energy; Structure and properties of matter; Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry.

Assessment Strategy Student worksheet and experiments Teaching Tips Note that some of the documents below may employ fonts that are not available on your machine. The documents may therefore require editing after downloading to adjust the size and appearance of text.

This material was developed through the Cornell Science Inquiry Partnership program (http://csip.cornell.edu), with support from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program (DGE # 0231913 and # 9979516) and Cornell University. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.