Exploration 17.1: Superposition of Two Pulses

Animation 1 Animation 2 Animation 3 Animation 4

Please wait for the animation to completely load.

One of the most interesting phenomena we can explore is that of a superposition of waves. Each panel shows an individual wave that is traveling on a string. Restart.

If these two waves are traveling on the same string, draw the superposition of the two pulses between t = 0 and t = 20 s in 2-s intervals for each animation (position is given in meters and time is given in seconds).

When you have completed the exercise, check your answers with the animations below.

Animation 1a Animation 2a Animation 3a Animation 4a

Exploration by Wolfgang Christian and Mario Belloni.
HTML updated for JavaScript by Aidan Edmondson.
Physlets were developed at Davidson College and converted from Java to JavaScript using the SwingJS system developed at St. Olaf College.