Labs

I think that labs should not have to be done on the computer. It is much easier and more efficient to complete the labs on paper. I dont see the need to have to do them on the computer

i think there is a really negative aura within the classroom.

Midterm Reflection

I think more review time was needed for the midterm. I knew comming out of it that i hadn't done as well as i hoped and the grade i recieved confirmed that. There were some units that i should have spent more time reviewing than others.

Wednesday January 30, 2008

Today we reviewed two kinds of waves, Longitudinal and Transverse. Longitudinal waves create a pulse and their particles move back and forth in the same direction; whereas the Transverse waves have perpendicular directions of travel.

We then moved on to covering the characteristics of periodic waves.
First we covered frequency.

Frequency is the number of vibrations per unit time
The symbol is f
The unit is in hertz or Hz
The conversion is 1 cycle per second = 1s^-1


Secondly, we covered the period of a wave.
A Period of a wave is the time required for one complete vibration
The symbol is T
The unit is second
The equation is T=1/f


We then went on to discuss amplitude, or the maximum displacement of a particle of the medium from its rest position. For example, light waves, brightness, and loudness.

We also discovered the phase of a wave.
Indicators that mean points on a periodic wave are in phase include:
1) Same displacement from rest postition
2) Same DIRECTION of motion

Wavelength is the distance between two consecutive points in phase
The symbol is the lambda

The equation to discover the speed of the wave was as follows:
velocity = frequency times lambda

Our homework was worksheet waves #1