Unit 9

Today, in class we spent a lot of time on a spring lab where we explored the concept and physics aspect of waves. We got a long slinky and three weights, and lined up the weights at incremental distances from us, parallel to the slinky. We learned how to create constructive and destructive interferences by adjusting how hard we whipped the slinky, how much we swung the slinky, and how often we waved the slinky around. By adjusting all these parameters, we were able to control which weight the slinky would hit. Playing around with the slinky reminded me the gongs that were popular in Buddhist temples back in Japan. Every New Year, it was a Japanese family tradition to go the temples to pay our respects and to make a New Year's wish by hitting the gong, clapping two times and bowing your head as you made your wish/prayer. If and when you hit the gong super hard, your hand often vibrates and shakes even after you hit the gong. Doing the slinky lab in class, it made me realize that it was because the waves of vibration still carry through your hand (a solid medium) that you felt the waves of motion transferred from the gong to you through your hand.