Question
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A person creates a longitudinal wave by shouting into a tube in the direction indicated by the arrow on the diagram below. The dot inside the tube represents an air particle in the tube before the wave reaches it. best represents the motion of the air particle when the wave travels through the tube?
A person creates a longitudinal wave by shouting into a tube in the direction indicated by the arrow on the diagram below. The dot inside the tube represents an air particle in the tube before the wave reaches it. best represents the motion of the air particle when the wave travels through the tube?
Answers
GPT-4o mini
In a longitudinal wave, such as sound waves traveling through air in a tube, the motion of the air particles is parallel to the direction of wave propagation. This means that as the wave travels down the tube, the air particles will oscillate back and forth along the same direction that the wave is moving.
To visualize this with the air particle represented by the dot in the tube:
1. **Before the wave reaches** the dot, it's at rest.
2. **As the wave passes**, the air particle will move forward (in the direction of the wave) as the compression of the wave reaches it.
3. Then, **after the compression** has passed, the air particle will move back toward its original position as it gets pulled by the surrounding air particles that are also oscillating.
4. This push and pull will occur back and forth as successive wave compressions and rarefactions travel along the tube.
Thus, the best representation of the motion of the air particle would be a back-and-forth oscillation along the direction of the wave's travel.
To visualize this with the air particle represented by the dot in the tube:
1. **Before the wave reaches** the dot, it's at rest.
2. **As the wave passes**, the air particle will move forward (in the direction of the wave) as the compression of the wave reaches it.
3. Then, **after the compression** has passed, the air particle will move back toward its original position as it gets pulled by the surrounding air particles that are also oscillating.
4. This push and pull will occur back and forth as successive wave compressions and rarefactions travel along the tube.
Thus, the best representation of the motion of the air particle would be a back-and-forth oscillation along the direction of the wave's travel.