Sound Waves

With the help of modern day technology and devices, teaching and learning becomes both fun and practical. Until this is a global achievement, common methods are used. On the other hand, you can take a look online at the variety of learning tools that can teach you a thing or two about anything. In this regard, Sound Waves comes as a simple utility with which you can view how sound waves travel and interact.

Lightweight and easy to use

The application comes in an incredibly light package and doesn’t even require installation. This is not a bad thing, because it gives you the possibility to take it with you on a USB Flash drive, while keeping the target machine’s registries intact. The only thing you need to worry about is whether or not the PC you run it on is equipped with Java Runtime Environment.
Running it directly throws you into a simple simulation. It’s actually one of the several methods you can use to learn about sound waves. The default tab shows you how sound from a single source reaches an individual.

Little info provided and poor customization

Further navigating through tabs you get to learn about two source interference, sound reflection, different air pressure conditions, as well as a measuring tool. All simulations are turned on by default, but there’s a pause button you can use, as well as one that gradually progresses through as you press it.
You can fully interact with the workspace and move icons representing individuals around in different positions. Sadly, apart from visual feedback, little else can be learned. A toolbox is constantly available so you can adjust frequency and amplitude, but this also affects just the animation.
The measuring tool is the only one capable of teaching you something. A small ruler is placed on your workspace to arrange and see how the intensity of sound fades away at up to five meters. What’s more, there’s no built-in option to export at least an image of simulations at specific moments.

In conclusion

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Sound Waves is a small application that aims to get you familiar with how sound travels and interacts. Intentions are good, but the poor variety of customization options and especially the lack of more measuring and analysis tools make it practical for no more than a ten-minute example during school lessons.