Energy in Pulses I

Four identical strings, each with tension $\tau = 9$ N and mass per unit length $\mu=0.01$ g/m, carry wave pulses traveling to the right. Snapshots of the strings at $t=0$ are shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 1: Four pulses for Problem 2.

(a)

Compute and graph the kinetic energy density $ke(x,t=0)$ and the potential energy density $pe(x,t=0)$ for each of the pulses. Be sure to clearly mark your axes.

(b)

Compute and graph the total energy density $e(x,t=0)$ for each pulse. Which one (A, B, C, or D) has the lowest energy density in the region of the pulse?

(c)

Calculate the total energy for each of these pulses. Which one (A, B, C, or D) has the highest total energy?