Assignment:
Question
Part 1
1. What is the distance in centimeters of a melted marshmallow hot spot? In meters?
2. Based on your measurement of the hot spot what is the wavelength of a microwave?
3. Calculate the wave speed of microwaves from the labeled frequency and your measured distance?
4. Is this speed close to the speed of light? Explain why or why not.
5. Why was it important to remove the turntable function? How might the results vary if the turn table was functional during the experiment?
6. Measure the distance across a melted hot spot. Record your answer in Post-Lab Question 1.
Part 2
1. How did the waves in front of the object appear compared to the waves behind the object? Explain why they were different.
2. What can you conclude about the effect of a moving source on the velocity of the waves in a medium?
3. How does the Doppler effect help explain why a car's engine sounds different as the car approaches you compared to after it passes you?
4. The Doppler effect is present in light waves as well. Red light has a slower frequency than blue light. What can you hypothesize about the motion of a distant star that appears "red-shifted" to astrophysicists?