How Can I Extend My Coursework on Standing Waves?

[Faloren]

Ideas to extend my coursework? (Standing Waves)

Homework Statement

I'm doing some coursework for school at the moment, and my chosen topic (because it was fun first time round) is standing waves on some kind of wire/string - ie vibration generator, wire and fixed end (ie pulley) with mass dangling off the end to produce tension.

Homework Equations

$$v = \sqrt{T/ \mu}$$

Basically, at the moment I've got data for a few different types of wire, held at different tensions. The data is harmonic frequencies - ie watching the string until a standing wave is produced, noting the frequency as the signal generator shows, etc. The plan is to the use the data to verify the equation above (substituting v for $$f\lambda$$).

This is all well and good, but could you possibly suggest a way of extending the experiment - say something to do with musical instruments "what material would be most suitable for such and such a stringed instrument's X string?" or whatever would work :)

Thanks!

 

[Mindscrape]

Do you have a good microphone and some sort of math analysis program that can do Fast Fourier Transforms?

 

[ogb p]

There are a few different ways you could extend your coursework on standing waves. One idea could be to investigate the effect of changing the length or thickness of the string on the harmonic frequencies. You could also explore the relationship between the tension and frequency, and see if there is a specific tension that produces the most stable standing wave.

Another idea could be to compare the harmonic frequencies of different types of strings, such as nylon, steel, or gut strings. This could tie into your suggestion about exploring the suitability of different materials for stringed instruments.

You could also look into the concept of overtones and how they relate to standing waves. This could involve experimenting with different lengths of string and observing how the number of nodes and antinodes changes with each overtone.

Additionally, you could investigate the effects of damping on standing waves. This could involve adding a dampening material to the string and observing how it affects the frequency and stability of the standing wave.

Overall, there are many different directions you could take your coursework on standing waves. It may be helpful to do some background research on the topic and see what other experiments have been done in this area to get more ideas. Good luck with your coursework!