Question

Use the data that you have for the air-filled tube. The tube is closed at one end.• Make a drawing of the standing wave in the tube when you have two, three, and four nodes or peaks. These will correspond to the first, second, and third overtones.• For each standing wave, label the nodes and the antinodes.• Label and record the distance in meters of the half wavelength (λ/2) for each standing wave.• Explain how the standing wave occurs.

Answer 1

Part 1)

When a standing wave oscilates in an air-filled tube closed at one end and open at the other, the closed end is a node and the open end is an antinode. Then, the diagram of the wave inside the tube looks like the following:

Part 2)

The nodes are the points where the two curves intersect (darker regions) and the antinodes are the clearer regions.

Part 3)

In each wave on the diagram, the distance between two consecutive nodes or two consecutive antinodes is the same as half the wavelength.

Part 4)

The standing waves arise from the combination of reflection and interference of waves inside the air column when the wavelengths match the length of the tube in such a way that the open end is an antinode and the closed end is a node.