INTRODUCTION
TO WAVES (Written in Excel 2000, though I have used it in Excel
97 – it contain macros, so you need to enable macros to use it.)
·
In the Exploring
Waves simulation, You can observe the meaning of wavelength, frequency,
period, and you can explore a few relations among these quantities such as the
relation between wavelength, frequency, and the wave velocity.
WAVE
INTERFERENCE (Written in Excel
2000, though I have used them in Excel 97 – they contain macros, so you need to
enable macros to use them.)
·
In the Superimposing
2 Waves Moving in the Same Direction simulation, you can study the way in
which two waved add to make beats and some other waveforms.
·
In the Waves Moving in the
Opposite Directions simulation, you can observe how to waves combine to
make a standing wave. You can also make
other waveforms.
·
In The Path Puzzle,
two incoming waves meet at a single point.
Depending on the distance traveled by each wave, there might be
constructive interference, destructive interference, or some combination at the
meeting point. There is some similarity
between this and a double slit experiment since each of the incoming waves
could be coming from one of two slits.
·
In Double Slit
Trial, two slits are shown on the screen, and waves emerge in phase from
the slits. You can press the F9
function key to move the waves and use control-t to reset them. This helps to visualize what happens to the
waves in a double slit experiment.
PHOTONS
(Written in Excel 2000, though I have
used them in Excel 97 – they contain macros, so you need to enable macros to
use them.)
·
In the simulation Photo in Low Light, you can use control-z
to simulate a (crude) picture being built up one photon at a time. The dark dots on the screen represent the
photons, and they will form a pattern if you let them go for a while. You can use control-e to reset the picture.
·
In the simulation Double Slit Experiment
with Light, you can use control-z to allow a double slit pattern to be
built up one photon at a time.
Control-e will reset it. If you
wish, you can interpret the dots as electrons instead of photons.
GEIGER COUNTER SIMULATIONS (Written in Excel 2000, though I have used them in
Excel 97 – they contain macros, so you need to enable macros to use them.)
· This simulation is called Half-Life
Simulation With Background, and it uses a simulated Geiger counter to
count from a source at various times. A
logarithm plot of the counts vs. time can be used to determine the
half-life. A specific half-life is programmed
into the simulation.
· The simulation Half-Life
Simulation With Background No 2 is just the same as the one described in
the paragraph above except it has a different value of half-life programmed
into it.
· The simulation Lead Shields
Gamma counts radioactivity from a simulated source through lead
absorbers. The user can select the
number of absorbers as well as the energy of the gamma rays. Absorption of gamma rays at various energies
through various absorber thicknesses can be observed.