I would like to hear from you what you would consider essential to be =
communicated in the first presentation on an introduction to waves. =
What are student's misconceptions, and what seems to be the hardest =
aspect to grasp related to them, and most importantly what can be =
communicated in very short time (half-an-hour to an hour)? Your input =
is greatly appreciated.
I am tempted to show simple transversal, longitudinal and torsional =
waves, to discuss the meaning of y(x,t) as displacement of the disturbed =
medium as a function of position and instants, and mention only =
theta(x,t) for torsion, or E(x,t) and B(x,t) and even mention the =
Psi(x,t) as the density probability.
Also, I am tempted to get into the aspect of relating the velocity of =
the "news" to the velocity of the material particles and the =
instantaneous slope, and in a smooth way to introduce the all the first =
and second order derivatives with respect with time and postions =
culminating with the wave equation...
These are just a few thoughts to start with, again I would like to hear =
from you.
Thanks!
Dan Mocanu "When you hear what you see,
Instructor of Physics and Mathematics and see what you hear,
North Seattle Community College you are at the gates of music"
9600 College Way North Prof. Aurel Stroe
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 527-3746 (college) dmocanu@isomedia.com
(206) 527-3748 (fax) http://www.sccd.ctc.edu/~dmocanu