Required practicals

Question 1

method for wave speed of water waves

Answer 1

need a ripple tank, a stopwatch , a meter ruler and a stroboscope connected to ripple tank
turn on ripple tank and adjust the frequency until there is visible waves
- for wavelength , take an image of the screen the waves are projected onto and place a meter ruler beside it
- for frequency mark a point in marker on the screen and slow down a recorded video of the waves , and measure how many waves pass the point in 10 seconds using a stopwatch next to the tank in the vid and then find the waves passing in 10 second then find by dividing by 10

Question 2

Springs practical

Answer 2

• get a clamp stand 2 bosses and 2 clamps and a heavy weight on the base of the clamp stand to ensure it doesn’t fall over
• have a ruler on the clamp under the clamp where the spring is attached to and make sure the ruler is vertical , attach a pointer horizontally to the end of the spring
• measure initial length of spring with no masses added by reading position of the pointer and add the masses , and the change in length is the extension for each mass , plot force on Y axis and Extension on X axis

Question 3

Acceleration Practical

Answer 3

• have a table with a length of at least 100cm and mark the table with chalk at regular intervals eg 10 cm up to 100 cm and attach a pulley to the end of the table
• use a string to attach to a toy car and attach it to a weight stack on the end of the string to secure it (using a knot maybe)
  -hold the car at the 0 cm mark and only let go of the car once you start a stopwatch and the mobile phone recording ,
• find the time it takes for the car to pass each point and record this in a table

Question 4

waves in a solid

Answer 4

-Set up a signal generator connected to vibration generator with string attached onto it. String will be held over wooden bridge and pulley on other end with masses.
-Set known frequency on signal generator – transducer begins to vibrate string
-Change frequency until defined wave appears on string
-Frequency dependant on length & width of string & mass attached on end
-Measure wavelength by measuring distance of at least 4 half-wavelengths then dividing
by no of half-wavelengths. Double result to get average length of full wavelength
-Find wave speed using known frequency & observed wavelength

Question 5

reflection practical

Answer 5

-Draw straight line on a A3 paper. Have an object where one of its edges aligns with the drawn line.
-Shine ray of light at objects surface by a ray box to produce a narrow ray of light & trace incidence & reflected ray
-Keep source of incidence ray the same – angle of incidence remains constant
-Draw normal perpendicular to where ray hits the object
-Trace incidence ray & reflected ray. Record width & brightness of reflected ray

Repeat with different materials for the object

Must be done in a dim room

Smooth surfaces should give clear, bright reflected rays

Rough surfaces should give dispersed, dim rays – potentially unobservable

Question 6

Infared radiation practical

Answer 6

Leslie cube: matte black paint, matte white paint, shiny metal, dull metal
-Fill Leslie Cube with boiling water on heatproof mat
-Wait 10mins for cube to warm up – hold thermometer against each vertical face, each face should be same temperature
-Hold IR detector at constant distance (10cm) from each face of cube & record amount of IR radiation
-Repeat measurements of IR radiation & calculate mean
More IR on black than white, matte than shiny

or infared heater between 2 metal plates of diff colours , petroleum jelly holding drawing pin on outer side , time which takes quicker for pin to fall off