PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Waves, Sound, and Light Unit
Day 1:
Objective 15.1.1
Before class: Read pages 505 – 509
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1. What do waves transfer?
2. Are light waves mechanical waves? Why or why not?
3. What causes most waves?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. Identify the mediums for the following waves:
a. ripples on a pond
b. the sound waves from a stereo speaker
c. waves on a spring
d. ocean waves
2. Name the one kind of wave that does not require a medium.
3. Describe a situation that demonstrates that water waves carry energy.
4. Describe the motion of a mass vibrating on a spring. How does this
motion relate to wave motion?
Day 2:
Objectives 15.1.2, 15.1.3
Before class: Read pages 510 – 513
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Compare and contrast transverse waves and longitudinal waves.
In what shape to particles in surface waves move?
What are wave compressions and rarefactions?
What are wave crests and troughs?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. Sketch a transverse wave. On the wave, label a crest and a trough.
2. Sketch a longitudinal wave. On the wave, label a compression and a
rarefaction.
3. Sometimes, people at a sports event do “the wave” across a stadium. Is
“the wave” really an example of a wave? Why or why not?
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Waves, Sound, and Light Unit
Day 3:
Objectives 15.2.1, 15.2.2, 15.2.3
Before class: Read pages 514 – 519
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1. What is the relationship between frequency and period?
2. What is the mathematical relationship between wave speed,
frequency, and wavelength?
3. Define: a. amplitude, b. wavelength, c. period, d. frequency
During class:
1. Practice: A wave is generated in a wave pool at a water park. The wavelength is
3.2 m. The frequency is 0.60 Hz. What is the speed of the wave?
2. Practice: A wave moving along a rope has a wavelength of 1.2 m and a frequency
of 4.5 Hz. How fast is the wave traveling along the rope?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. Draw a transverse wave and label a crest, a trough, the amplitude, and
a wavelength.
2. Explain why sound waves travel faster in liquids or solids than in air.
Answer the following. Show your work.
3. The average wavelength in a series of ocean waves is 15.0 m. A wave
crest arrives at the shore on average every 10.0 s, so the frequency is
0.100 Hz. What is the average speed of the waves?
Day 4:
Objective 15.2.3, 15.2.4
Before class:
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1. Why does sound travel faster in solids than it does in liquids or in
gases.
2. Describe the Doppler effect and give an example of a time you
have experienced it.
During class:
1. Practice: Earthquakes can produce a transverse wave that travels at 5000 m/s.
its wavelength is about 417 m. What is its frequency?
2. Practice: A tuning fork produces a sound wave with a wavelength of 0.20 m and a
velocity of 25.6 m/s. What is the frequency of the tuning fork?
3. Practice: A tuning fork produces a sound wave with a frequency of 122 Hz and a
velocity of 343 m/s. What is the wavelength of the wave?
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Waves, Sound, and Light Unit
4. Practice: A tuning fork produces a sound wave with a frequency of 252 Hz and a
velocity of 343 m/s. What is the wavelength of the wave?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. What happens to the wavelength of a wave when the frequency of the
wave is doubled but the wave speed stays the same?
2. Imagine you are waiting for a train to pass at a railroad crossing. Will
the train whistle have a higher pitch as the train approaches you or
after it has passed you by?
Answer the following. Show your work.
3. A wave along a guitar string has a frequency of 440 Hz and a
wavelength of 1.5 m. What is the speed of the wave?
4. The speed of sound in air is about 340 m/s. What is the wavelength of
sound waves produced by a guitar string vibrating at 440 Hz?
5. The speed of light is 3 x 108 m/s. What is the frequency of microwaves
with a wavelength of 1 cm?
Day 5:
Objectives 15.3.1, 15.3.2
Before class: Read section 15 – 3
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What happens when a wave reflects off a boundary?
What is one example of diffraction?
How is refraction different from diffraction?
What is a standing wave?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. Explain why you can hear two people talking even after they walk
around a corner?
2. Explain why colors appear on the surface of a soap bubble.
3. Draw a standing wave. Label the nodes and antinodes.
4. Imagine that you and a friend are trying to tune the lowest strings on
two different guitars to the same pitch. Explain how you could use
beats to determine if the strings are tuned to the same frequency.
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Waves, Sound, and Light Unit
Day 6:
Objectives 16.1.1, 16.1.2, 16.1.3
Before class: Read pages 543 - 546
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What causes sound waves?
How is loudness related to intensity?
What determines the intensity of a sound wave?
What is the relationship between pitch and frequency?
What are the upper limit and the lower limit of frequencies that
humans can hear?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. Identify two factors that affect the speed of sound.
2. Your friend tells you that a clap of thunder has a sound intensity of
about 130 dB, so it is almost twice as loud as a vacuum cleaner.
Explain whether or not your friend is correct.
Day 7:
Objectives 16.1.3, 16.1.4
Before class: Read pages 547 – 551
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1. What is the difference between ultrasound and infrasound?
2. Describe how sonar works.
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. On a piano keyboard, the C5 key has a frequency that is twice the
frequency of the middle C key. Is the string that vibrates to make the
sound waves for the C5 key shorter or longer than the middle C string?
Explain your reasoning.
2. To create sonograms, why are ultrasound waves used instead of
audible sound waves?
3. You hear a phone ring. Describe the process that occurs in your ear
that results in sound waves from the phone being translated into nerve
impulse that are sent to the brain.
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Waves, Sound, and Light Unit
Day 8:
Objectives 16.2.1, 16.2.2, 16.2.3
Before class: Read section 16 – 2
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1. What can the particle model of light explain that the wave model
cannot?
2. Describe the relationship between energy and frequency.
3. Describe the relationship between brightness and intensiy.
4. What are two things that radio waves are used for?
5. What are two things that microwaves are used for?
6. What are two things that infrared light is used for?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. State one piece of evidence that supports the wave model of light and
one piece of evidence that supports the particle model of light.
2. Which photons have more energy, those associated with microwaves or
those associated with visible light?
3. You and a friend go hiking on a cloudy day. Your friend claims that
she dos not need any sunscreen because the sun is not shining. What
is wrong with her reasoning?
4. Describe the path taken by the radio signal that is produced when you
make a call with your cell phone.
Day 9:
Objectives 16.3.1, 16.3.2, 16.3.3
Before class:
Read section 16 – 3
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What are two behaviors that light rays model?
What is the law of reflection?
Why is the image that a flat mirror creates called a virtual image?
Why do rose petals appear red while the leaves appear green?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences.
1. Explain why a plant may look green in sunlight but black under red
light.
2. A friend says that only mirrors and other shiny surfaces reflect light.
Explain what is wrong with this reasoning.
3. A convex mirror can be used to see around the corner of a hallway.
Draw a simple ray diagram that illustrates how this works.
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Waves, Sound, and Light Unit
Day 10:
Objectives 16.4.1, 16.4.2, 16.4.3, 16.4.4
Before class: Read section 16 – 4
Answer the following. Complete sentences are not needed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
How are mirages produced?
Which type of lens can create a real image?
What two parts of the eye refract light?
How do prisms separate light into different colors?
After class:
Answer the following using complete sentences
1. Explain how a simple magnifying glass works.
2. A spoon partially immersed in a glass of water may appear to be bent.
IS the image of the spoon in the water a real image or a virtual image?
3. Explain how rainbows are formed.
Day 11:
Objective 16.4.2
Before class: Read pages 574 – 575
Read step 1 and perform step 2 of the lab procedure.
After class:
Answer the Analysis and the Communicating Results questions.
Day 12:
All Objectives
Before class:
Study chapters 15 and 16.
Organize your homework from each day. You should have days 1 – 11.
Mrs. Schafer will be checking that you have them all during class.
During class:
Answer the following questions from the chapter 15 review on pages 534 – 535.
2, 3, 5, 8 – 16, 21, 22, 30 – 32
Answer the following questions from the chapter 16 review on pages 578 – 579.
2, 3, 6 – 15, 18, 19, 31, 32
After class:
Study for the unit test.