7.

DispersionRelationforWaterWaves
(updatedbySuzanneAmadorKane10/2008)
Introduction Theprimarycharacteristicdefiningthebehaviorofawaveisitsdispersionrelation,i.e.,the relationship (k) between angular frequency and wavenumber. Water waves have a very interestingdispersionrelation,becausetwodifferentforces(gravityandsurfacetension)giverise tothem.Atlongwavelengthsorsmallwavenumbersk=2/,gravityprovidesthedominant restoring force. In this limit, the angular frequency = 2 f of small amplitude waves (of frequencyf)isrelatedtothewavenumberby

2 = gk

(1)

where g isthegravitationalacceleration. Thisnonlinearrelationship,whichisvalidforwater thatismuch deeper than ,may becontrastedwiththelinearrelationship = ck forlight wavesorsoundinair. Asaresult,thephasevelocity /k andthegroupvelocity d unequalforwaterwaves.

dk are

On the other hand, for short wavelength waves where k is large, the surface tension

(resistancetostretchingoftheinterfacewhenitiscurved,dimensionsofforceperunitlength) providestheprimaryrestoringforceleadingtowavemotion,andgravitycanbenegligibleby comparison. In this limit, the application of Newton's laws to a fluid interface leads to the followingprediction:

2 =

k3

(2)

whereisthedensityofthefluid. Ingeneral,botheffectsmaybeoperativeatthesametimeatintermediatewavenumbers,so thegeneraldispersionrelation,validatanywavenumber(fordeepwaterwaves),is k3 2 = gk + .

(3)

Whathappensifthewaterisnotdeep(comparedtothewavelength)?Ingeneral,equation(3)for 2isreducedbyamultiplicativefactortanh(kh),wherehisthedepth.Inthisexperiment,you willtestthisdispersionrelationandmeasurethesurfacetension. Of course water waves are particularly important in nature; a very large fraction of the worldspopulationlivesclosetotheocean.Oceanwavesaffectthetransportofheat,impurities, andnutrients;theyalsoaffecthumannavigationandthebiologicalproductivityoftheoceans.A majorefforthasgoneintounderstandingthewaythewindsputenergyintooceanwaves.

71

72WaveDispersion

Prelabquestion1:Forthedeepwatercase,atwhatwavelengthdogravityandsurfacetension makeequalcontributionstotheoscillationfrequency? Expressyourresultsoastomakeclear over what range of wavelengths gravity waves dominate. The surface tension for water is approximately7.2x102N/m(or72dyn/cmincgsunits). Prelabquestion2:Makeaquantitativegraph(useagraphingprogramsuchasOriginorExcel) ofthedispersionrelationintheform /2 =f() fordeepwaterwaves,andalsoprintatable, overtherangeofwavelengthsfromabout0.3cmto6.0cm.Onthesamegraphshowseparate curvesforpuregravitywavesandpurecapillarywavesasdashedlines. Showthetableand graphtoyourinstructor. Prelabquestion3:Howsmallmusttheratioh/betoreducethefrequencyby10%comparedto thedeepwaterlimit? (Notethatthefactor 2 inthevariable k intheargumentofthetanh functionimpliesthatthewaterdoesn'thavetobeasdeepasthewavelengthtobeessentiallyin thedeepwaterlimit.) Allofthisdiscussionignoresanumberoffactors:(a)Atlargeamplitudes(howlarge?)the above relations may no longer be accurate, and uniform waves also may not be stable. (b) Viscosity will cause the waves to decay exponentially in time (like e t ) with a decay rate (inversedecaytime)thatisapproximately

= 2 k 2 .Inthisexpression,thekinematicviscosity

(theordinaryviscosity dividedbythedensity)is1x10 2 cm2/sforwater.Asaconsequence,

thewaveswillalsodecayexponentiallyinspaceawayfromthewavesource. Prelabquestion4: Howfarwouldwavesofwavelength2.0cmbeexpectedtotravelbefore decayingto e 1 oftheirinitialamplitude?(Youmayassumethedeepwaterlimit.)

ExperimentalProcedure Youwillbeprovidedwithasmallwavetankandawavemakerdrivenbyavibrator.The objectoftheexperimentistostudythedispersionrelationship f() or (k) underavarietyof conditions. Therewillberoomforconsiderableinitiativeindetermininghowtheexperiment andanalysisarecarriedout. Aparallelbeamoflight(originatingfarfromtheapparatus)passesverticallythroughthe fluid,isrefractedbythedeformedinterface,andfallsuponatranslucentscreen.Inregionsthat areelevated(i.e.,abovethewavepeaks),thelightisfocusedandthereforebrighterthanaverage, whileabovethedepressedregions(thevalleys),thelightintensityisless.Theintensityfunction

WaveDispersion73

g(x)onthescreenhasthesameperiodicityasthewaves,buttheshapeofthisfunctionwillnotbe thesameastheheightfunction h(x)ofthewaves,becauseofthenonlinearityintheimaging process.Ingeneral,thenonlinearityislesssevereifthescreenisclosetothefluidsurface(but thisreducesthecontrast,soyoumayhavetocompromise). Stroboscopicilluminationisusedtofreezethewaves.Thewavelengthofthewavesthencan bemeasureddirectlyusingaruler.

Experiment 1: Testing the dispersion relation (and determining ) in the deep water limit 1.Measure

f ( ) overaswidearangeaspossible,keepingthewatersufficientlydeep

tobeinthedeepwaterlimit. Makesurethatyourcontaineriscleanandthatfresh filtered/deionizedwaterfromourpurificationsystemisused.(Thebluenozzleonour sinkprovidesROwateryoucanuse.)Trytomakeyourwavelengthmeasurementsas accurateaspossible. Notethatthedistancebetweenthescreenandthewatersurface needstobeadjusteddifferentlydependingonthewaveamplitudeandwavelengthto obtaingoodcontrastintheimages. 2.Convertyourdatafor

f ( ) to ( k ) .Plotthedispersionrelationandcompareitto

thetheoreticaldispersionrelationgraphically. ItisVERYimportanttomakeagraph BEFORE you finish taking data. If you find deviations for high k, you might check whetheritcouldbeexplainedbyareducedvalueofthesurfacetension(whichmight ariseduetocontamination. Alternately,youcouldfityourdatatothetheoreticaldispersionrelationusingaprogram suchasOrigin.Ifyougetagoodfit,youcanthendeterminethebestfittingvalueofthe surfacetension,andgraphthebestfittingtheoreticalexpressionalongwiththedataso thatanydeviationsareclearlyexhibited. Usethe"statisticsreport"toobtainthe95% confidenceintervalfor.

Experiment 2: Varying depth, amplitude, surface tension, etc. 1. Notice that the waves decay with distance from the source at large k (short wavelength).Isthisduetoviscosityortosomethingelse?Howcanyoutell? 2. Reducethedepthofthewatertocheckitseffectonthewavelength(atonesuitably chosen frequency). Is the effect described quantitatively by the multiplication factor tanh(kh) ? 3.Canyoudetectanyeffectofthewaveamplitudeonthedispersionrelation?

74WaveDispersion

4. Tryaddingafewdropsofphotoflow,asurfactantthatreducesthesurfacetension. Whathappens?(Afterwards,youmustrinsethecontainermanytimestoeliminatethe photoflow,orsubsequentmeasurementswillbecontaminated.) OPTIONAL Experiment 3: Determination of by reduced apparent weight The surface tension can be measured independently for comparison with the results of Experiment1.Thebasicideaistosubmergethe edgeofaverticallyorientedcoppersheetintothe fluid,whichissittinginashallowcontaineronanelectronicbalanceinRoom6.Youthenliftthe sheetuntilitisalmostreadytodetachfromthefluid. Thiswillsomewhat reduce theapparent weightofthefluid. Fromtheamountofthereduction,thesurfacetensioncanbecomputed. Moreprecisely: 1.Cleananddrythe2cmx3cmcoppersheetandtheplasticfluidcontainer. 2.Putasmallamountofliquidinthecontainer.Theliquiddepthisroughly1cm.The totalmassmustbelessthan95gramsbecauseofthelimitedcapacityofthebalance. 3.Useacrocodileclipandathread(orathinstick)tohangthecoppersheet.Thesheet shouldbeverticalanditsbottomedgeshouldbehorizontal.Thestick(orthread)goes throughthebalance'stopwindow.Holdtheotherendofthestickorthreadwithyour hand.Allotherwindowsofthebalanceshouldbeclosed. 4.Wetthebottomedgeofthecoppersheetbydippingitintotheliquidslightlyseveral times.(Ifthesheetisdry,themeasurementscanbeerroneous.) 5. Now measure the initial mass mo of the fluid (and container) before the copper touchestheliquid.(Ofcourseyouarereallymeasuringtheweight.)Whentheedgedips slightlyintotheliquid,pullthecoppersheetupveryslowly,andnotethattheweight readingdecreases.Takethesmallestreadingm minjustbeforethecopperdetachesfrom theliquid. Makesurethedetachment occursacross thewhole edgesimultaneously! Thenmeasurethemassagain,m1.Youneedtoinsurethatthemasschangefrombefore toafter ismuch less thantheeffect youaretrying tomeasure. This means that the followingconditionshouldbesatisfied:|m0m1|<<m=(mo+m1)/2mmin.Thesurface tensionisthen

=
(4)

(m)g
2L

whereListhelengthofcopperincontactwithliquid.Whatistheoriginofthefactorof 2? 6.Repeatstep(5)manytimesandaveragetheresults,omittinganyvaluesthataretoo farfromthemean.(Howfaristoofar?)

WaveDispersion75

Ifthismeasurementisperformed,considerpossiblecausesofanydiscrepanciesbetweenthe values of obtained (a) by direct measurement and (b) that determined from the wave dispersion.Notethatwaterisvulnerabletosurfacecontaminationthatcanreduce ,soitwould
2 notbesurprisingifyourvalueislessthanthenominalvalueof7.2x10 N/m.

References I.G.Main,VibrationsandWavesinPhysics,Chapter13.(Seemsquitereadable.) Thefollowingaremorechallenging,andsomewhatbeyondthelevelofthiscourse. W.C.ElmoreandM.A.Heald,PhysicsofWaves,Chapter6. K.U.Ingard,FundamentalsofWavesandOscillations,Chapter8.