WaveMaker is an interactive computer simulation of a discretely weighted elastic string. It illustrates properties of harmonic motion of individual particles and the collective behavior that gives rise to waves. Students can explore a variety of phenomena with quantum analogs, including superposition, standing and running waves, normal modes, the influence of boundary conditions, and wave tunneling.
Many parts of the WaveMaker interface act and react with one another. When you move the fourier graphs amplitude the wave shape changes and when you change the shape of the wave, the fourier graphs change. When you touch the phase space diagram the velocity and displacement graphs change. When you move the velocity or displacement graph the phase space graph diagram changes. WaveMaker was awarded First Prize in the second annual competition sponsored by Computers in Physics, a publication of the American Institute of Physics.
WaveMaker is available from
Physics Academic Software
Box 8202
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8202
(919) 515-7447 Information
(800) 955-8275 Ordering
Email: pas@ncsu.edu
Fax: (919) 515-2682
Web: http://www.aip.org/pas/
cost $90, single copy
cost $225, 10-copy Lab pack
cost $360, high school site license
MAC