This is a fun and educational lab for any audience at the middle school level and above to learn about the Doppler shift and waves in general. The participants should review the basic properties of waves and, with some Socratic questioning, form their own hypothesis of what will happen to a sound wave when it is emitted by a moving object. Participants then construct their own instrument and test their hypothesis in both a qualitative and quantitative manner. The main part of this lab involves using a computer program and simple math to correctly measure the speed of an object, using only the waves emitted from it.
Date
01/01/2008
Citation
Sherman, R. 2008, Astronomy Education Review, 7(2), p.141–146
