School of Engineering and Science

Advanced Physics A + B Lab I 200221

Ultrasonic waves

Anais Colibaba Group 6

Andrei Ignat

September 30th -October 1st , 2013

Abstract

Contents
1 Introduction and Theory 2 Experimental set up and procedure 2.1 Bandwidth determination for transducers 2.2 Analysis of wave superposition . . . . . . 2.3 Analysis of diraction patterns . . . . . . 2.4 Determination of speed of sound . . . . . 3 4 4 4 5 5 7 7 7 9 12 12 14 16 18 18

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

3 Results and Data Analysis 3.1 Bandwidth determination for transducers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Transducer A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Transducer B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Analysis of wave superposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Waves with the same amplitude and maximal dierence in frequency 3.2.2 Waves with the same amplitude and minimal dierence in frequency 3.2.3 Waves with dierent amplitude and dierent frequency . . . . . . . 3.3 Analysis of diraction patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Determination of speed of sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

4 Appendix 19 4.1 Python Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Introduction and Theory

This experiment aimed at investigating properties of ultrasonic waves such as superposition and diraction and at determining the acoustic velocity through air. Sound is a travelling wave that passes through a particular medium (i.e. air, gas, solids, liquids) and causes the particles in the medium to enter an oscillation around an equilibrium position with an amplitude A0 . This motion creates a variation of pressure with distance and time. In most cases, sound is a longitudinal wave as the movement of the particles is generally directed towards the propagation of the wave. However there are also transversal waves whose displacement is produced perpendicular to the travel direction. This type of waves occur in solids. Humans perceive sounds that range between 20 Hz and 20000 Hz while sounds with larger frequencies i.e. ultrasounds exceed their absolute threshold of hearing. The relation between the displacement A of a sound wave and the position x and time t is expressed by: A(x, t) = A0 sin(x, t) = A0 sin(kx t + 0 ) (1)

where denotes the phase function of position and time, k is the wave vector, is the angular frequency and 0 is the initial phase. The above-mentioned quantities are connected in the following way: 2 = 2f k= where , f dene the wavelength, respectively the frequency. Their product denotes the velocity of sound: vs = f The superposition of two waves occurs if their amplitudes are equal and their frequencies vary slightly. The net displacement at a certain moment in time and space is simply the sum of two initial displacements: Asup = A10 sin(k1 x 1 t + 10 ) + A20 sin(k2 x 2 t + 20 ) By setting A10 = A20 and 10 = 20 = 0 one gets: Asup = 2A0 cos(2 f1 + f2 f1 f2 t)sin(2 t) 2 2

which describes a sinusoidal wave with varying amplitude. This resulting interference process is dened as beating and the time between two nodes is called beat period. Equation can, in fact, be simplied to a simple wave form: Asup (t) = Ab (t)sin(2fm t) where fm is the mean frequency and Ab is the beating amplitude: Ab(t) = A0 cos(2fb t) fb is chosen as the beating frequency. Therefore, the beating frequency is half the dierence between the two frequencies and it is clearly smaller than the mean frequency: f1 f2 f1 + f2 = fb << fm = 2 2 The beat period can be thus deduced: fb = 3 1 Tb (3) (2)

Like for any type of waves, diraction occurs once ultrasonic waves pass through single or multiple slits. The diraction pattern corresponding to a grating with n slits is formed by principal maxima with n-2 maximas in between. Moreover, the angle between the receiver and the transmitter inuences the intensity of the obtained pattern. The speed of sound also characterizes the speed of propagation for ultrasonic waves. Therefore an unknown distance s to an object can be computed by measuring the time delay t it takes for the sound to reach the receiver. If the transmitter and the receiver are situated next to each other, then the formula for the distance is: v t (4) s = 2

2
2.1

Experimental set up and procedure

Bandwidth determination for transducers

Since all the experiments require the use of ultrasonic transducers, the rst experimental task involved the analysis of the used transducers. Thus, for the rst part of the experiment, the full width half maximum and the -3 db frequency of two electronic transducers. For this purpose, the two transducers were labelled as Transducer A-which had the original label #1 and Transducer B -which had the original label #1. Each of the emitting transducers was connected to a 40 kHz battery powered generator. By means of a turning screw on the generator, one could adjust the output frequency of the transducer. The two emitting transducers were placed at a distance of about 1 m from the receiving transducer. The receiver was connected to an amplier which was then connected to a digital oscilloscope. By means of a knob on the case of the amplier, one could adjust the gain of the amplier. Adjusting the gain was important since too much gain leads to the saturation of the measured values while two little gain leads to a lack in the precision of the measurement. For this part of the experiment, only one of the emitting transducers worked at a point in time, the other one being turned o. The receiving transducer recorded the a voltage that was interpreted as the amplitude of the oscillation. After the emitting transducer was turned on, its frequency was calibrated such that the receiving transducer would yield the peak value of the oscillation. After the peak voltage was determined, the frequency of the oscillation was varied around the frequency for which the peak voltage was recorded. In order to reduce the high uctuations of the measurement, the values were measured as the average of 16 actual values. The recorded values for the voltage were then plotted against the frequency. The plot respected a Gaussian distribution and was then used to read the value of the full width half maximum and -3db frequency of the oscillation of the oscillation. An approximate setup of the experiment can be seen in Figure 1

Figure 1: Investigation of transducer bandwidth

2.2

Analysis of wave superposition

In this part of the experiment, the eects of wave superposition were investigated. For this, the two transducers, a and b were calibrated such that they yielded oscillations with: the same amplitude and a minimal dierence in frequency; 4

 the same amplitude and maximal dierence in frequency; dierent amplitude and dierent frequencies. In order for the signal not to saturate, the two transducers were calibrated such that the superposition of the two amplitudes would not be high enough to saturate the readings on the oscilloscope. Thus, after the initial frequencies fA and fB of the two transducers were recorded, they were both switched on in the same time and the characteristics of the superimposed wave i.e. the beat period Tb and the new wave period Tn ew were recorded. These were then compared with the theoretical values determined from the initial frequencies of the two transducers. The setup used for this part of the experiment is the same one that was used for the rst part and it can be observed in Figure 1.

2.3

Analysis of diraction patterns

For this part of the experiment, the receiver was tted on a antenna. A diraction grid with an adjustable grating was placed in front of the antenna. The support base of the antenna included an electrical motor which enabled the rotation of the antenna. In order to record the angular position of the antenna, the support base contained a resistance which varied with the angle of the system. The emitting transducer was placed at a distance of approximately 4 m from the receiver. The transmitter and receiver were calibrated beforehand such that they would be at the same height. Both the variable resistance of the antenna and the receiver were connected to the CASSY interface. In the rst part the relationship between the angular position and Figure 2: Setup for the analysis of diraction patterns the value of the variable resistance was determined. From these, the relationship between the angular position and the R was plotted and a linear regression was added to the plot. After the system was thus calibrated, the diraction pattern of a grating with 2, 3, 4, 5 and 14 slits was measured. By using the above mentioned relationship between the recorded resistance and the angular position, the recorded values for the voltage were plotted against the angle at which they were recorded. The voltage was recorded using the Root Mean Square function of CASSY over 100 ms. In order to get as many data points as possible, the support base was set into a slow rotation. The setup for this part of the experiment can be seen in Figure 2.

2.4

Determination of speed of sound

The last part of the experiment involved the determination of the speed of sound. For this, two transducers, one acting as a receiver and one acting as an emitter were used. Before the experiment began, the two transducers were calibrated such that the resonance frequency was reached and the uctuations recorded by the receiver were at a minimum. Afterwards, the emitting transducer was set on pulse mode. The oscilloscope trigger was connected to Figure 3: Setup for determination of velocity of sound 5

the emitter such that that the oscilloscope would clearly record the period of time that the pulse took to travel from the emitter to the receiver. Both the emitter and the receiver were placed at a distance of 1 m from a reecting screen. The distance between the two transducers and the screen was varied. In order to obtain the velocity of sound vs , the distance-time relationship was plotted and a linear regression was performed using EXCEL. The setup can be examined in Figure 3.

3
3.1

Results and Data Analysis

Bandwidth determination for transducers

The setup used for this part of the experiment is described in Section 2.1. The receiving transducer did not measure the amplitude of the vibration directly but rather the voltage that was induced by the ultrasonic wave in the piezoelectric material. However, this does not mean that the wave behaviour was not observed accurately since the amplitude of the wave and the induced voltage are directly dependent. 3.1.1 Transducer A

The oscilloscope gave the value of the peak-to-peak voltage i.e. 2Umax . In the case of transducer A, the values obtained for the peak-to-peak voltage 2UAmax and the corresponding frequency fAmax are: 2UAmax = 2.54 0.1 V fAmax = 41.19 0.1kHz A typical output of the oscilloscope while measuring the peak frequency for transducer A can be seen in Figure 4. Even though the precision of the oscilloscope dictated that the errors in the two measured values be 2UAmax = 0.01 V and fAmax = 0.01 kHz , these reported errors were taken as 2UAmax = 0.1 V fAmax = 0.1kHz

f [kHz] 39.95 40.33 40.4 40.48 40.57 40.8 41.19 41.53 41.7 41.8 42.09 42.23 42.88

2Umax [V] 0.86 1.18 1.42 1.58 1.86 2.3 2.54 2.3 1.77 1.5 1.16 1.02 0.6

Table 1: Measured values for transducer A

due to the large uctuations in the measurement. After the peak value was determined, several measurements were taken for dierent values of the frequency, both larger and smaller than the frequency for which the wave showed its peak value. The measured values can be seen in Table 1. These values were plotted and the full width half maximum(FWHM) respectively the -3db frequency were obtained from the plots. In order to t a Gaussian curve to the measured values, two methods were used: in order to get an approximated value, during the lab session, the Gaussian curve was hand drawn on the plot. Two vertical lines were added at the points where the frequency corresponded to the FWHM respectively the -3db frequency. This method was extremely inaccurate since the Gaussian curve was approximated by eye. The respective plot can be seen in Figure 5. a second method was used to extrapolate the Gaussian curve of the measurement. This method implied the use of a simple Python script(see Appendix 4.1) which took the measured values and tried to nd a Gaussian t for them. In order to extrapolate the two frequencies from the plot, the distance between the intersection points of the corresponding vertical lines was measured using a digital instrument(GIMP) and the pixel count i.e. the number of pixels over which the line segment stretched was divided by the pixel count of unit of measurement i.e. the line of a segment equivalent to a frequency of 1 kHz. The error bars on the plot are taken from the error of. The plot can be seen in Figure 6.

Figure 4: Oscilloscope output for peak-to-peak voltage for transducer A

Figure 5: Hand drawn Gaussian t for Transducer A

Figure 6: Python generated Gaussian t for Transducer A

Thus, the determined values for the FWHM bandwidth are:

F W HM BA = 41.94 40.26 kHz = 1.67 kHz h 269 px F W HM = BA 1 kHz = 1.51 0.10 kHz P 178px

and for the -3db frequency:

3db BA = 41.77 40.49 kHz = 1.27 kHz h 223 px 3db BA = 1 kHz = 1.25 0.10 kHz P 178px

where BAh was obtained from the hand drawn Gaussian t and BAP was obtained from the Python Gaussian t. The error in the frequencies taken from the Python generated t were taken from the error in the measurement of the frequency i.e. BAP = f = 0.10 kHz because the Gaussian t crosses through the error error bars of the measured data. Since the hand drawn Gaussian t lacks mathematical rigour it can only be considered as a grossly inaccurate approximation. For the curve t obtained through Python, there is a clear divergence from the Gaussian t towards the side values. However, most of the values from the obtained Gaussian t are within the error ranges of the observed values. The values obtained from the Python curve are preferred in this case since a numerical method was used to obtain them and not just an approximation of a Gaussian curve. Conclusion There were several sources that determined a large error in this experiment. There were extremely large uctuations in the measurement of the peak to peak value of the voltage as well as in the measurement of the frequency. The knob used to adjust the frequency of the oscillations could not be used to ne tune the frequency. Thus, the smallest movement of the knob changed the frequency drastically; this problem could be solved by the use of a generator that changes through frequencies automatically. In order to improve the Gaussian t, more values have to be measured towards the peak of the bell curve. However, because of the above mentioned issue regarding the lack of ne tuning in the generator, obtaining more values was not possible. Since the Python generated Gaussian t is more accurate, the nal values for the two frequencies of transducer A are considered to be the ones obtained from this plot i.e.
3db BA = 1.25 0.10 kHz F W HM BA

(5) (6)

= 1.51 0.10 kHz

3.1.2

Transducer B f [kHz] 40.32 40.85 41.05 41.19 41.25 41.39 41.46 41.6 41.67 41.88 42.3 2Umax [V] 0.9 1.72 2.18 2.48 2.82 2.94 2.74 2.46 2.1 1.5 0.82

The same procedure that was applied for transducer A was also used for transducer B. Thus, for transducer B, the peak-to-peak value 2UBmax respectively the frequency for which the peak value was recorded fBmax were determined to be 2UBmax = 2.94 0.10V fBmax = 41.39 0.10 kHz (7) (8)

The oscilloscope output for the peak voltage of transducer B can be seen in Figure 9. Again, the error in the peak value was estimated to 2U = 0.10 V while the error in the frequency was estimated to f = 0.10 kHz in order to counteract the large uctuations of the readings from the oscilloscope. As for transducer A, after fBmax was determined, the frequency was varied around the fBmax . The measured values can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2: Measured values for transducer B 9

Figure 7: Hand drawn Gaussian t for Transducer B

Figure 8: Python generated Gaussian t for Transducer B

10

As for transducer A, two Gaussian ts were added to the plots. The hand drawn Gaussian t can be seen in Figure 7 while the Python generated Gaussian t can be examined in Figure 8. By using the same extrapolation methods that were used for transducer A, the FWHM and -3db frequencies are
F W HM BB = 41.41.86 40.40.76 kHz = 1.10 kHz h 165 px F W HM 1 kHz = 0.67 kHz = BB P 247 px 3db BB = 41.66 40.96 kHz = 0.70 kHz h 111 px 3db BB 1 kHz = 0.45 kHz = P 247 px

Figure 9: Oscilloscope output for peak-to-peak As can be seen in the gures, in the case of transducer B, voltage for transducer B the recorded values greatly diverge from the Python generated Gaussian t. Therefore, the errors of the FWHM and the -3b frequencies cannot be the same as the errors in the measurement of the original frequency. Thus, the error for the Gaussian tted values has to be larger than the measurement error. Since the dierence between the tted values and the measured values increases towards the ends of the bell curve and since the errors of the tted values have to include the measured values, the errors for the Python generated values were taken as:
F W HM BB = 0.25 kHz P 3db B B = 0.15 kHz P

Conclusion By comparing the results from the hand drawn Gaussian curve to the one obtained from the Python script, one can see that the hand drawn approximation is extremely inaccurate. This fact is conrmed by the fact that there is a large dierence between the measured values and the values obtained from the t. Therefore, the values obtained from the hand drawn approximation of a Gaussian curve should be disregarded in this case. The large dierence between the measured values and the tted values is probably due to a systematic error. Since transducer A was connected to a dierent generator than transducer B, it might have been possible that the generator used for transducer B experienced large uctuations. Since the batteries in the generator used for transducer B had been recently changed, it might have happened that the voltage given by the generator was too unstable and too high. Nevertheless, the nal values for the bandwidth of transducer B are taken from the Python generated Gaussian t and have the following values:
F W HM BB = 0.67 0.25 kHz 3db BB

(9) (10)

= 0.45 0.15 kHz

11

3.2

Analysis of wave superposition

The setup used for this part of the experiment is described in Section 2.2. The superposition of the ultrasonic waves was realized between: waves which had the same amplitude and a maximal dierence in frequency waves which had the same amplitude and a minimal dierence in frequency waves which had dierent amplitudes and dierent frequencies 3.2.1 Waves with the same amplitude and maximal dierence in frequency

For this experiment, transducer A was adjusted such that the amplitude of the generated wave was approximately half of the maximum wave amplitude. Thus, the recorded values for twice the amplitude of the oscillation 2Ua , the frequency of the oscillation fa and the period of the oscillation Ta for transducer a were: 2Ua = (1.26 0.10) V fa = (41.32 0.10) kHz Ta = (46.4 0.02) s The large errors in the values of the amplitude 2Ua and in the value of the frequency fa are again due to the large uctuations in the measurement. The error in the measurement of the period comes from the error in the scale of the oscilloscope since the Delta function from the Cursor menu was used to measure the period of the signal. As mentioned in Section 2.2, transducer B was then set to yield the same amplitude but with a maximal dierence in frequency. Thus, for transducer B, the signal had the following characteristics: 2Ub = (1.24 0.10) V fb = (40.00 0.10) kHz Tb = (48.4 0.02) s Theoretical determination of the wave characteristics As mentioned in Section 1, the characteristics of the signal can be theoretically computed using Equation 2 and Equation 3. Thus, the predicted beat frequency fBth respectively the predicted mean frequency fMth of the signal are: fBth = fa fb = 1320 Hz fa + fb = 40.66 kHz fMth = 2 The corresponding theoretical periods of the two waves were then computed to be: 1

TBth = TMth

= 617 s fBth 1 = = 24.6 s fMth

The errors in these values are propagated errors and can be computed using the following equations

12

fBth = fMth = TBth = TMth =

fBth fBth f a ) 2 + ( fb )2 = fa fb fMth fMth fa )2 + ( fb )2 = fa fb TBth f B fBth )2 = 2 th fBth fBth TMth f M fMth )2 = 2 th fMth fMth

2 + f 2 fa b

(11)

2 + f 2 f a b

(12)

(13)

(14)

Thus, the theoretical prediction for the characteristics of the wave is fBth [Hz] 1320 142 fMth [kHz] 40.66 0.14 TBth [s] 617 81 TMth [s] 24.6 0.1

Table 3: Theoretical prediction for the signal characteristics

Experimental determination of the signal characteristics In order to obtain the period of the beat, the Delta function from the Cursor menu of the oscilloscope was used. In order to be able to determine the period of the signal as well as the period of the beat, dierent scales were used on the oscilloscope. While for the period of the signal i.e. the period corresponding to the mean frequency, the signal did not show any beat behaviour(the oscilloscope behaviour looked similar to the one in Figure 4, the period of the beat could be determined only after zooming out. A typical output on the display of the oscilloscope can be seen in Figure 10. The beat behaviour is clearly observable in this picture. Thus, the measured periods were: TBexp = 0.835 0.01 ms TMexp = 23.80 0.01 s Figure 10: Oscilloscope output for same aplitude wave superposition with the errors coming from the scale of the oscilloscope readings. The mean frequency and the beat frequency were obtained from Equation 3. Thus, the two frequencies were fMexp = 42.11 kHz fBexp = 1197 Hz In order to obtain the errors for the two frequencies, the following propagated error formulas were used fBexp = fMexp = ( TBexp fBexp TBexp )2 = 2 TBexp TB exp fMexp TMexp TMexp )2 = 2 TMexp TM exp (15)

(16)

13

Thus, the experimental values that were obtained for the characteristics of the wave are: fBexp [Hz] 1197 14 fMexp [kHz] 42.11 0.02 TBexp [s] 835 10 TMexp [s] 23.8 0.1

Table 4: Experimental result for the signal characteristics

Conclusion The nal values for the beat and mean frequency with their respective periods can be seen in Table 8. As can be seen, the beat characteristics(fB and TB ) that were measured experimentally agree with the theoretical prediction. However, as far as the mean frequency and its corresponding period(fB and TB ) are concerned, there is a clear dierence between the theoretical prediction and the experimental result which is due to the inverse relationship between the frequency and the period. fB [Hz] 1197 14 1320 142 fM [kHz] 42.11 0.02 40.66 0.14 TB [s] 835 10 617 81 TM [s] 23.8 0.1 24.6 0.1

experimental theoretical

Table 5: Signal characteristics There were several error sources for the measurement but the greatest one was the instability of the measurement. There were large uctuations in the measurement of the frequency. On the other hand, the knobs used to adjust the frequency output on the generator were not sensitive enough to allow a better tuning. Therefore, as can be seen from the initial characteristics of the two transducers, they did not have the same amplitude since the amplitude of the oscillation could not be ne tuned using the equipment available. Nevertheless, the results are valid and agree with each other in their error ranges. The beat behaviour of the oscillation was clearly observed. 3.2.2 Waves with the same amplitude and minimal dierence in frequency

In order to try to obtain a minimal dierence in frequency, both generators were calibrated such that the peak-to-peak amplitude was around 1.2V. However, the inaccuracy of the generator frequency setting greatly aected this part of the experiment since once the amplitude of the two transducers was approximately the same, the dierence in frequency became so small that the oscilloscope interpreted the two transducers as having the same frequency. Thus, for transducer A, the recorded signal characteristics were: 2Ua = (1.22 0.10) V fa = (41.39 0.10) kHz 2Ta = (47.2 0.02) s Because of the large uctuations in the peak-to-peak voltage as well as in the frequency readings, the errors in these two values were taken to be larger than the theoretical accuracy of the instrument i.e. 2Ua = 0.10V and fa = 0.10kHz . The recorded characteristics of the signal coming from transducer B were: 2Ub = (1.18 0.10) V fb = (41.39 0.10) kHz 2Tb = (46.80 0.02) s Since the oscilloscope readings gave the same frequency for both transducers, this frequency was disregarded and instead, the frequencies fa and fb were obtained from Equation 3. Thus, the following values were

14

determined for the frequencies of the two transducers: fa = 42.37 0.01kHz fb = 42.73 0.01kHz One can observe that the values are much higher than the ones read from the oscilloscope. Theoretical determination of the wave characteristics The characteristics of the signal were again obtained using Equation 2 and Equation 3. Thus, the theoretical beat and mean frequency of the signal are: fBth = fa fb = 360 Hz fa + fb fMth = = 42.55 kHz 2 The theoretical periods of the two waves are thus: 1 = 2778 s fBth 1 = 23.5 s = fMth

TBth = TMth

The errors in the frequencies respectively the period were then computed using Equation 11, 12, 13, 14. The theoretical prediction for the characteristics of the signal is thus: fBth [Hz] 360 141 fMth [kHz] 42.55 0.14 TBth [s] 2778 1091 TMth [s] 24.6 0.1

Table 6: Theoretical prediction for the signal characteristics

Experimental determination of the signal characteristics The same procedure as before was used to obtain the period of the beat. The typical output for the case of a minimal dierence in frequency can be see in Figure 11. The beat is clearly observable. The measured periods were: TBexp = 8.5 0.01 ms TMexp = 23.40 0.01 s with the errors coming from the scale of the oscilloscope readings. The mean frequency and the beat frequency were obtained from Equation 3. Thus, the two frequencies were fMexp = 42.73 0.14 kHz Figure 11: Oscilloscope output for same aplitude wave superposition with minimal dierence where the errors were obtained using Equations 15 and in frequency 16. The experimental results that describe the wave are thus: fBexp = 117 18 Hz

15

fBexp [Hz] 117 18

fMexp [kHz] 42.73 0.14

TBexp [s] 8500 10

TMexp [s] 23.40 0.01

Table 7: Experimental result for the signal characteristics Conclusion The nal values for the beat and mean frequency with their respective periods can be seen in Table ??. In the case of a minimal dierence in frequency, it can be clearly observed that the experimental results do not agree with the theoretical predictions. Because the goal of the experiment was to obtain a minimal dierence in frequency while having approximately the same peak-to-peak voltage and because the generators used allowed a rather imprecise tuning of the frequency, the experimental results were rendered as inaccurate. fB [Hz] 117 18 360 141 fM [kHz] 42.73 0.14 42.55 0.14 TB [s] 8500 10 2778 1091 TM [s] 23.40 0.01 24.6 0.1

experimental theoretical

Table 8: Signal characteristics The background noise greatly aected this part of the experiment. Since the scale of the frequency readings did not allow for a precise measurement, the dierential frequency i.e. the beat frequency became lost in the background noise. An improvement to this experiment would therefore consist in the use of generators that have a more stable output such that large uctuations can be avoided. Nevertheless, the shape of the superimposed wave obeys the theoretical predictions. 3.2.3 Waves with dierent amplitude and dierent frequency

The last type of wave superposition that was observed involved the superposition of two unrelated waves. In this case, the waves had both dierent amplitudes and dierent frequencies. As will be seen later, this greatly aected the shape of the superimposed wave. Thus, r transducer A, the characteristics of the signal were given by: 2Ua = (2.36 0.10) V fa = (41.19 0.10) kHz 2Ta = (48.8 0.02) s Since there were large uctuations in the peak-to-peak voltage as well as in the frequency readings, the errors in these two values were taken to be larger than the theoretical accuracy of the instrument i.e. 2Ua = 0.10V and fa = 0.10kHz . For this experiment, the signal coming from transducer B had the following characteristics: 2Ub = (1.32 0.10) V fb = (40.26 0.10) kHz 2Tb = (48.8 0.02) s The dierent values in the peak-to-peak voltages of the two transducers already predict a dierent shape of the superimposed wave.

16

Theoretical determination of the wave characteristics The characteristics of the signal were obtained using Equation 2 and Equation 3. The theoretical beat and mean frequency of the signal are: fBth = fa fb = 930 Hz fa + fb fMth = = 40.725 kHz 2 One can then obtain the theoretical periods of the two waves as: 1 = 1075 s fBth 1 = = 24.5 s fMth

TBth = TMth

The errors in the values above were then computed using Equation 11, 12, 13, 14. The theoretical prediction for the characteristics of the signal are thus: fBth [Hz] 930 141 fMth [kHz] 40.725 0.141 TBth [s] 1075 163 TMth [s] 24.5 0.1

Table 9: Theoretical prediction for the signal characteristics

Experimental determination of the signal characteristics The same procedure as before was used to obtain the period of the beat. This time however, the beat exhibited a dierent behaviour, as can be seen in Figure 12. Since the two waves now have dierent amplitude, the positions where nodes used to be will no longer exhibit a behaviour in which the amplitude of the oscillation is 0. The same technique as before was used to measure the two periods. The measured periods were: TBexp = 1.49 0.01 ms TMexp = 24.00 0.01 s with the errors coming from the scale of the oscilloscope readings. The dierent value of the error comes from the fact that the scale of the oscilloscope adapted dynamically so that only 4 digits were shown in total i.e. Figure 12: Oscilloscope output for dierent aplionce the reading was given in ms and once in mus. The tude wave superposition mean frequency and the beat frequency were obtained from Equation 3 as: fMexp = 41.67 0.02 kHz fBexp = 671 5 Hz where the errors were obtained using Equations 15 and 16. The experimental results that describe the wave are: fBexp [Hz] fMexp [kHz] TBexp [s] TMexp [s] 671 5 41.67 0.02 1490 10 24.00 0.01 Table 10: Experimental result for the signal characteristics 17

Conclusion Conclusion The nal values obtained for the superposition of waves with dierent amplitudes can be seen in Table fB [Hz] 671 5 930 141 fM [kHz] 41.67 0.02 40.73 0.15 TB [s] 1490 10 1075 163 TM [s] 24.00 0.01 24.5 0.1

experimental theoretical

Table 11: Signal characteristics

3.3 3.4

Analysis of diraction patterns Determination of speed of sound

18

4
4.1

Appendix
Python Script

The following Python script extrapolates the width of the Gaussian t from the measured values and then uses it to generate the tted Gaussian values. """ Based on methods taken from http://wiki.scipy.org/Cookbook/FittingData Andrei Ignat 2013 """ from pylab import * time = [] counts = [] for i in open(file.in, r): segs = i.split() time.append(float(segs[0])) counts.append(segs[1]) times = arange(len(time), dtype=float) data = arange(len(counts), dtype=float) times[0:] = time data[0:] = counts plot(times, data, label="Gathered data", marker=.) errorbar(times,data, yerr=0.1, xerr=0.1, fmt=bo) X = arange(data.size) x = sum(X*data)/sum(data) width = sqrt(abs(sum((X-x)**2*data)/sum(data))) max = data.max() times.sort() fit = lambda t : max*exp(-(t-x)**2/(2*width**2)) plot(times, fit(X), label="Gaussian fit",color=g) axhline(y=1.47, color=r) axhline(y=2.079, color=r) xlabel("Frequency [kHz]") ylabel("Voltage [V]") legend() show()

19