waves stuff

Today we tested our theories on the speed of a slinky wave.
We had lots of good experiments, some of them found no appreciable difference between their variable and the wave speed. For example, the size of the wave pulse, or the frequency of the pulse did not affect the speed.
But the one factor that did, was to change the medium. In other words, the material.
In this case, we are talking about the slinky. Stretching the slinky more/less caused the wave speed to change. This is a general property of waves.
We discussed the example of sound waves traveling through different air (hot/cold or nitrogen vs. helium). We also talked about water waves, and how the speed slowed as the water got shallower and they "crashed" on the shore.
We discussed some of the major wave terminology: Amplitude, wavelength, frequency, period, and of course wave speed (or velocity).
You can find some nice tutorial stuff here:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/waves/wavestoc.html

There was homework handed out today.
It is due on Monday.
Come with questions on Friday, where we'll talk more about wave terminology and a few equations, and see a few other slinky things.