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Transverse Standing Waves on a Slinky
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Transverse standing waves are set up on a slinky and the first seven harmonics are excited.
Title: Transverse Standing Waves on a Slinky
Keywords: standing, waves, spring, transverse, mechanical, slinky, node, antinode, fundamental, harmonic
Category: Mechanical Waves
Producer: Cornell University
About this clip
Transverse waves - those in which the disturbance of the medium is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the wave - are started in a slinky that has one fixed boundary. The frequency of the waves are changed so that standing waves are set up in the slinky with up to seven antinodes (points of maximum disturbance). Each time there is an integer number of antinodes, this is a harmonic of the fundamental frequency of the slinky.