Reproducing an Early-20th-Century Wave Machine Available to Purchase

Physics students often have problems understanding waves. Over the years numerous mechanical devices have been devised to show the propagation of both transverse and longitudinal waves (Ref. 1). In this article an updated version of an early-20th-century transverse wave machine is discussed. The original, Fig. 1, is at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. The new version, by the authors, is shown in Fig. 2. It was designed in such a way that it can be built relatively easily. Sliders that rest on a rotating helical rail move up and down in approximate simple harmonic motion. When the helix is at rest, the tops of the sliders form a good approximation to a sine wave. In the original, the sliders are double-ended knitting needles, and the handle was taken from an earlier piece of apparatus.