Name – Anjali Jindal

Date of the Experiment – 5th February 2020

EXPERIMENT 1
Aim: To determine the frequency of electrically maintained tuning fork by means of Melde’s
apparatus in longitudinal and transverse mode of vibration.

Material Required: electrically maintained tuning fork, spring balance, meter scale and
thread, optical bench to set up the arrangement.

Theory:
Melde’s Experiment is an excellent method for demonstrating transverse stationary waves along
a string under tension. The apparatus uses an electrically driven tuning fork. About one meter
long string of uniform diameter is fixed to one of the prongs of the tuning fork. The other end of
the string passes over a pulley and is connected to a spring balance. Under the action of the
tuning fork, stationary waves are produced along the stretched strings. The experiment can be
performed with two arrangements of the tuning fork with respect to the stretched string.
Speed of waves in a stretched string:

A string means a wire or a fibber which has a uniform diameter and is perfectly flexible. The
speed of a wave in a flexible stretched string depends upon the tension in the string and mass
per unit length of the string.

Where the tension T in the string equal to T = Mg.

Where m is the mass of the string and L is the total length of the string.

The string is effectively fixed at the pulley end and so the waves that are introduced onto the
string by the vibrator are reflected at the pulley. These reflected waves interfere with the waves
that are moving towards the pulley. The speed ( ) of a transverse wave in a string depends on
the string's mass per unit length (linear density) and the tension . By setting the tension with
the pulley system shown below and by measuring the mass density, one can determine the
speed of the transverse wave by:

Squaring both sides of eq. (3) one obtains:

The distance between two consecutive nodes is .

Vibrations of a stretched string:

When the wire is clamped to a rigid support, the transverse progressive waves travel towards
each end of the wire. By the superposition of incident and reflected waves, transverse
stationary waves are set up in the wire. Since ends of the wire are clamped, there is node N at
each end and antinode A in the middle as shown below.
The points of the medium which have no displacements called nodes (marked as N) and there
are some points which vibrate with maximum amplitude called antinodes (marked as A).

During each period ( is the time it takes for a wave to repeat itself), the wave travels a
distance of one wavelength, ; therefore the velocity of the wave is given by

The distance between two consecutive nodes is λ/2, ( λ - wavelength). Because l is half a
wavelength in the equations,

(3)
If ‘f’ be the frequency of vibration the wire,

(4)
Substituting the value of ' v ' in equation (4)

(5)
Transverse drive mode :

In this arrangement the vibrations of the prongs of the tuning fork are in the direction
perpendicular to the length of the string.
 The time, during which the tuning fork completes one vibration, the string also completes one
vibration. In this mode, frequency of the string is equal to the frequency of the tuning fork.

Therefore from equation (5),

Transverse Arrangement

Longitudinal drive mode: In this arrangement the tuning fork is set in such a manner that the
vibrations of the prongs are parallel to the length of the string.

Longitudinal Arrangement
The time, during which the tuning fork completes one vibration, the string completes half of its
vibration. In this mode, frequency of the fork is twice the frequency of the string.

Using equation (6) and (7) we can calculate the frequency of electrically maintained tuning fork
in two different modes of vibration.

In transverse drive mode the string follows the motion of the tuning fork, up and down, once up
and once down per cycle of tuning fork vibration.

However, one cycle of up and down vibration for transverse waves on the string is two cycles of
string tension increase and decrease. The tension is maximum both at the loops’ maximum up
position and again at maximum down position. Therefore, in longitudinal drive mode, since the
string tension increases and decreases once per tuning fork vibration, it takes one tuning fork
vibration to move the string loop to maximum up position and one to move it to maximum
down position. This is two tuning fork vibrations for one up and down string vibration, so the
tuning fork frequency is half the string frequency.

Applications of Stationary Waves:

Diagram:

Precautions:
 Well defined loops should be obtained by fine adjustment with the help of screw.
 Pulley should be frictionless otherwise it causes tension to be less than the actual value.
 The thread and string should be uniform and inextensible.
 The loops in central part of thread should be counted for measurement
 The nodes at pulley and tip of prong should be neglected as they have some motion.
  The longitudinal and transverse arrangements should be properly arranged.
.
Procedure:
Transverse Arrangement:
 Transverse arrangement was set up as shown in the picture.
 Vibrations were set up in the tuning fork. The tension in the spring balance was adjusted
to a value such that well-formed loops were obtained.
 The position between the nodes excluding the end loops were measured using a
measuring tape and the number of loops were noted down.
 The above steps were repeated for different values of tension.
Longitudinal Arrangement
 The longitudinal mode was set up and the entire process was repeated again.
 A graph was plotted between lambda square and T for both the cases and the frequency
was determined.

Observations:
Apparatus No. 1
Least count of spring balance=0.1 N
Least count of measuring tape=0.001 m
Mass per unit length=0.225 g/m

Observation Table:
Longitudinal Arrangement

Length of n
Tension No of loops Length of 1 λ^2
(in N) loops (in cm) n loop l (in cm) λ=l(in m) (in m^2)
0.2 8 60 2 30 0.3 0.09
0.4 7 84.8 2 42.4 0.424 0.179776
0.5 6 94 2 47 0.47 0.2209
1 4 164 2 82 0.82 0.6724
1.7 3 111 1 111 1.11 1.2321

Transverse Arrangement
Length of n
Tension No of loops Length of 1 λ= 2l (in λ^2
(in N) loops (in cm) n loop l (in cm) m) (in m^2)
1 7 80 2 40 0.8 0.64
2.6 6 126.4 2 63.2 1.264 1.597696
3.2 5 129.6 2 64.8 1.296 1.679616
4 4 166.4 2 83.2 1.664 2.768896
4.6 3 92.4 1 92.4 1.848 3.415104
Graph:

Calculations:

Software used for Calculations : MS Excel

Longitudinal Arrangement
Slope of graph = 1.2576
Frequency = slope/mass per unit length

Frequency = = 74.76 Hz

Transverse Arrangement
Slope of graph = 1.2414
Frequency = slope/mass per unit length

Frequency = = 74.28 Hz

Mean Frequency = 74.52 Hz

Result:
 The frequency of electrically maintained tuning fork in longitudinal arrangement was
found to be 74.28 Hz.
 The frequency of electrically maintained tuning fork in transverse arrangement was
found to be 74.28 Hz.
 Mean frequency of electrically maintained tuning fork is 74.52 Hz.

Inference:
The law was verified for both Longitudinal and Transverse arrangement and the graph
between Tension(T) and square of Wavelength( ) was drawn to calculate the frequency of the
electrically maintained tuning fork.

Sources of Error:
 Friction of the pulley is the main source of error in the experiment. Due to this, the
value of tension acting on the wire is less than that actually applied.
 The ideal pulley does not exist in practice.
 Error due to air currents on the thread due to which the reading may vary.
 The angle between the pulley and the thread after passing through the pulley was
minimum but could not be made exactly zero.
 The thread after passing the pulley may vibrate and the energy may continue to pass.
 Nodes obtained may not be well defined.
Discussion:
 Instead of taking on Y axis and T on X axis the graph was drawn by taking on X axis
and T on Y axis and the slope of the graph was used to make the necessary calculations.
  Well defined loops were not obtained at all values of Tensions and only at some
particular values perfect loops were obtained due to which there are less number of
observations and less points on graphs.
 In longitudinal arrangement loops were not forming by taking large values of tension.
References:
 https://vlab.amrita.edu/?sub=1&brch=201&sim=882&cnt=1
 https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1119/1.1933558?journalCode=ajp
 https://thefactfactor.com/facts/pure_science/physics/meldes-experiment/8386/
 https://www.scribd.com/doc/13263793/Lab-Mannual-Melde-s-Experiment
 Practical Physics by Geeta Sanon and C.L. Arora