Daily IA

I have two students doing different research on the same thing. Vihaan and Jakob are both dropping masses onto a stretched string. Jakob, a pianist, is investigating the relationship between drop height and the amplitude of sound produced and Vihaan is looking at the rebound height for different tensions. The "perfect IA" is when a simple theoretical model doesn't quite fit the data > the data is analysed and possible reasons for the deviation suggested. > Further investigation is the carried out to determine if the suggestions are realistic. Vihaan's is turning out just like this.

The hypothesis was that the rebound height was proportional to the tension, if the string is slack the mass won't bounce but if it is very taught it won't absorb energy and mass will bounce up to its original height. The results show something different there is a clear peak where transfer of energy is greatest. This is very similar to the resonance curve. Researching the physics of a tennis racket it seems that there is some sort of resonance going on. The critical factor is the time spent in contact with the string, when the mass hits the string it sends a pulse along the string, the pulse reflects off the fixed end and returns to the mass. If the mass is still in contact with the wire the energy in the pulse can be transferred back to the mass. If the bounce is very short the mass will have left the wire before the pulse gets back. To measure the duration of the pulse a guitar pick up was used. This showed clearly how long the mass was in contact with the string, about 0.004 s. This is what is meant by personal engagement.

(Sorry about all the typos in the original post, I am still getting used to using speech to text.)