Collisions and mechanical wave propagation in elastic rods

Abstract

Some results from experiments intended to measure the propagation speed of sound waves produced by collisions between small bodies and metallic rods are analysed. Elementary models of elastic collision and of the reflection and transmission of waves at media boundaries are discussed and tested with experimental data, in the framework of a workshop on mechanical wave propagation that featured at the University of Palermo in a two-year graduate programme for prospective physics teachers and in courses for undergraduate engineering and physics students.