Fun with Waves and Sound

Waves are all around us. Water waves, electromagnetic waves and sound waves all have very different properties, but they have some very basic things in common, too. Over the years at the University of Toronto we have developed a wealth of fun demonstrations about waves, both real and virtual, the best of which we will share during the first half of this workshop. During the second half of the workshop, participants will perform experiments in groups of three on standing waves on a string. This experiment involves relatively inexpensive apparatus that gives students a very tactile and visual sense of what standing waves are, and how stringed instruments such as guitars and violins produce sound.

Biographies

Jason Harlow completed his undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Toronto in 1993, and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Penn State University in 2000. He spent several years teaching undergraduate physics and astronomy courses at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, before returning to U of T. Jason is now a Senior Lecturer in the Physics Department at U of T, which is part of the Teaching Stream Faculty. His main area of interest these days is in Physics Education Research, and how to best help students learn.

Before earning his PhD at the University of California, San Diego, Andrew Meyertholen taught physics at Bay de Noc Community College in Escanaba, Michigan. As an undergraduate and master's degree student at the University of Illinois, he worked in the physics education group, developing technology-based teaching tools for effective undergraduate physics instruction. Andrew is now a Lecturer of physics at the University of Toronto. His research in theoretical condensed matter physics investigates the properties of low-dimensional (nanoscale) charged carrier systems. He specializes in computational physics, most recently studying the interactions between "artificial atoms" (biexcitons).