PASCO WA-9401 User Manual

Instruction Manual and
Experiment Guide for
the PASCO scientific
Model WA-9401

LONGITUDINAL

WAVE SPRING

012-04475B

2/94

Copyright © November 1990 $1.00

012-04475B Longitudinal Wave Spring

T able of Contents

Introduction .....................................................................................................1

Additional Equipment Required......................................................................1

Setup Procedure...............................................................................................1

Technical Support................................................................ Inside Back Cover

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Longitudinal Wave Spring 012-04475B

Copyright, Warranty and Equipment Return

Please—Feel free to duplicate this
manual subject to the copyright restric­tions below.

Copyright Notice

The PASCO scientific Model WA-9401 Longitudinal
Wave Spring manual is copyrighted and all rights
reserved. However, permission is granted to non­profit educational institutions for reproduction of any
part of this manual providing the reproductions are
used only for their laboratories and are not sold for
profit. Reproduction under any other circumstances,
without the written consent of PASCO scientific, is
prohibited.

Limited Warranty

PASCO scientific warrants this product to be free from
defects in materials and workmanship for a period of
one year from the date of shipment to the customer.
PASCO will repair or replace, at its option, any part of
the product which is deemed to be defective in mate­rial or workmanship. This warranty does not cover
damage to the product caused by abuse or improper
use. Determination of whether a product failure is the
result of a manufacturing defect or improper use by the
customer shall be made solely by PASCO scientific.
Responsibility for the return of equipment for warranty
repair belongs to the customer. Equipment must be
properly packed to prevent damage and shipped
postage or freight prepaid. (Damage caused by
improper packing of the equipment for return shipment
will not be covered by the warranty.) Shipping costs
for returning the equipment, after repair, will be paid
by PASCO scientific.

Equipment Return

Should the product have to be returned to PASCO
scientific for any reason, notify PASCO scientific by
letter, phone, or fax BEFORE returning the product.
Upon notification, the return authorization and
shipping instructions will be promptly issued.

ä

NOTE: NO EQUIPMENT WILL BE

ACCEPTED FOR RETURN WITHOUT AN
AUTHORIZATION FROM PASCO.

When returning equipment for repair, the units
must be packed properly. Carriers will not accept
responsibility for damage caused by improper
packing. To be certain the unit will not be
damaged in shipment, observe the following rules:

➀ The packing carton must be strong enough for the

item shipped.

➁ Make certain there are at least two inches of

packing material between any point on the
apparatus and the inside walls of the carton.

➂ Make certain that the packing material cannot shift

in the box or become compressed, allowing the
instrument come in contact with the packing
carton.

Address: PASCO scientific

10101 Foothills Blvd.
Roseville, CA 95747-7100

Credits

This manual authored by: Paul Stokstad
This manual edited by: Dave Griffith

Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
email: [e-mail]
web: www.pasco.com

ii

012-04475B Longitudinal Wave Spring

Introduction

The PASCO Longitudinal Wave Spring is designed to
demonstrate longitudinal waves. Although it may be
used in several different configurations, we suggest the
following for ease of set up and clear, well defined
waves.

Additional Equipment Required:

• Mechanical Driver, PASCO Model SF-9324 or
WA-9753

Tape

• Function Generator with Amplifier, PASCO
Model PI-9587A or PI-9598

• Support for the non-driven end of the spring.

Setup Procedure

➀ Hook one end of the spring through the hole in the

banana plug assembly.

➁ Insert the banana plug on one end of the spring into

the drive shaft of the Mechanical Driver.

➂ Suspend the other end of the spring from a ring

stand or other support such that the length of the
spring is between 30 and 60 cm.

(It may be desirable to tape the loop on the end of
the spring to the support so that it does not move
once resonance is attained.)

➃ Connect the Mechanical Driver to a function gen-

erator capable of driving a speaker. (The PASCO
PI-9587B Digital Function Generator/Amplifier is
excellent for this purpose.)

➄ Start driving the Mechanical Driver at about 10 Hz

with approximately 1 mm of amplitude and slowly
increase the frequency. At various frequencies it
will be noted that certain parts of the spring seem to
stand still (nodes) while others oscillate rapidly
(anti-nodes). As the frequency is increased the
number of nodes and anti-nodes will increase and
the distance between them become shorter. It may
be necessary to decrease the driving amplitude
when resonant points are attained.

30 - 60 cm

Equipment Setup

➅ Graph the relation between the number of nodes and

the driving frequency. Change the length (thus the
tension) of the spring and see if different frequen­cies are required for the same number of nodes.

➤ NOTE: A light background is best for
viewing the nodes and anti-nodes.

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Longitudinal Wave Spring 012-04475B

Notes

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012-04475B Longitudinal Wave Spring

T echnical Support

Feed-Back

If you have any comments about this product or this
manual please let us know. If you have any sugges­tions on alternate experiments or find a problem in the
manual please tell us. PASCO appreciates any cus­tomer feed-back. Your input helps us evaluate and
improve our product.

To Reach PASCO

For Technical Support call us at 1-800-772-8700 (toll­free within the U.S.) or [phone].

Contacting Technical Support

Before you call the PASCO Technical Support staff it
would be helpful to prepare the following information:

• If your problem is with the PASCO apparatus, note:
Title and Model number (usually listed on the label).
Approximate age of apparatus.

A detailed description of the problem/sequence of
events. (In case you can't call PASCO right away,
you won't lose valuable data.)

If possible, have the apparatus within reach when
calling. This makes descriptions of individual parts
much easier.

• If your problem relates to the instruction manual,

note:
Part number and Revision (listed by month and year

on the front cover).

Have the manual at hand to discuss your questions.

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