SEISMOLOGY
Computer simulation of
wave reflection and transmission on
string (normal-mode simulation of waves on a string with an
internal boundary [Geller and Stein, 1978])
Light beams in a tank with a protractor back, containing air and
water, display both Snell's
law (from the angles the beams make) and
angle dependance of the reflection coefficient
(from beams' brightness).
Standard wave (ripple) tank demonstrations for basic wave
propagation, and local variants including using the disk (from the
moment of intertia demonstration) as a "core" about which
diffractions can be seen.
Classic "Slinky" shows
P and S wave particle motions
A stretched rubber band shows the effects of the shear modulus and density on shear wave velocity
Finding room size with
inexpensive electronic (acoustic) distance measurement
device illustrates
using travel times to infer structure
Video simulation demonstrates
relation between seismic
waves in the earth and specific wave phases
(e.g. ScS)
[Wysession and Shore, 1994]
To Seth Stein's Homepage
To John DeLaughter's Homepage
Experiment pages:
Wave propagation on a string
Snell's Law
Wave speed on a rubber band
Travel Time measurements
This site is under development; more pages will be available soon.
Related pages:
A biography of Joseph Fourier
A (well-done) Snell's Law program
A Biography of Willebrord Snell
Seismic refraction experiments carried out by US scientists