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 PAPER
Phys. Educ. 58 (2023) 065019 (7pp) iopscience.org/ped

A low cost ripple tank

experiment with 3D
printed components and
an Arduino control unit
∗
Peter Michael Westhoff  and Alexander Pusch
Institute of Didactics of Physics of the University of Münster, Münster, Germany

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
In this article we present a ripple tank with 3D printed components including
a control unit with Arduino microcontroller that can be inexpensively
replicated. With the presented setup, experiments such as Huygens’
principle, diffraction, and the double-slit experiment according to Young are
possible. Due to the simple operability and the comparatively low price, the
experiments can be carried out easily and quickly by the learners themselves.

Keywords: ripple tank, waves, 3d printing, Arduino, visualisation, experiment,

low-cost

1. Introduction expensive ripple tank sets for the educational sec-

The ripple tank is a key experiment to show tor, which are usually to be conducted by the
wave phenomena such as Huygens’ principle, dif- teacher as a demonstration experiment. Therefore,
fraction, refraction and reflection. Corresponding there is a need for inexpensive variants with which
experiments for investigating water waves were high-quality experimental results can neverthe-
described, for example, by Tyler as early as 1936 less be achieved. Various approaches have already
with a comparatively complex setup [1]. For many been published: Thy and Iwayama, for example,
years, there have been commercial, comparatively analyse the results of the ripple tank with a smart-
phone and tracker [2]. Thepnurat et al build a DIY
ripple tank whose frequency generator is con-
trolled by a smartphone [3].
∗
Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. In this article, a low cost version of the ripple
tank is presented, that consists of 3D printed com-
Original content from this work may be used ponents and an Arduino control unit. With it, high-
under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work
quality representations of wave patterns of vari-
must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the ous phenomena can be achieved. The concept
work, journal citation and DOI. is designed for the simplest and most intuitive

1361-6552/23/065019+7$33.00 1 © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd

P M Westhoff and A Pusch

Figure 1. Sketch of a transversal wave with crest (1),

trough (2) and direction of propagation (yellow arrow).
Figure 2. Graphic representation of the mathematical
quantities of a wave.
operation possible, so that the experiments can
also be carried out by the learners themselves in
student experiments. In general, the propagation of homogeneous,
two-dimensional waves in the form of water
waves can be displayed and analysed with a ripple
tank. Various experiments can be carried out by
2. A brief theory about waves using different exciters (e.g. point, multiple point
Waves and their phenomena play a decisive role in and paddle) and obstacles (on the water surface:
various subject areas such as mechanics, acous- gap, wall, double gap or in the water: transparent
tics, electromagnetism and also quantum phys- block).
ics. The classic waves include transversal, lon- To make the phenomenon visible, light is usu-
gitudinal waves or torsional waves (a hybrid of ally directed through the medium of water onto
transversal and longitudinal waves). A distinction a projection surface. In the very much simplified
is made between longitudinal waves and trans- model in figure 3, parallel light shines from above
versal waves based on the direction of vibration through the tub with water onto the projection
of the individual oscillators and the direction of surface below. The oscillator creates water waves
the propagation of the waves in relation to one with crests and troughs.
another. The light of the illumination converges
In the case of mechanical longitudinal waves through the crests and diverges through the
such as sound waves, the direction of vibration troughs of the water surface similar to convex and
of the individual oscillators and the direction of concave lens do, see figure 3. This creates either
propagation of the wave are the same. In contrast a scattering or a collection of the light rays. As a
the direction of vibration of the individual oscil- result, the light rays result in dark and bright areas
lators and the direction of propagation of the wave on the projection screen through diacaustic.
of a mechanical transversal wave such as water
waves in the ripple tank or also in vibrating gui-
tar strings, run perpendicularly to one another in a 3. A 3D printed low cost ripple tank
highly simplified manner (there are different types The ripple tank presented here consists of 3D prin-
of water waves). In the case of mechanical trans- ted parts as well as simple standard parts (e.g.
versal waves, we can speak of wave crests and plastic box, screws and nuts) and electronic com-
wave troughs (figure 1). The wave itself is char- ponents. Due to its simple principle and the low
acterized by the amplitude A0 and the wavelength price, it can also be produced and used in larger
λ (figure 2). The wavelength λ is the distance numbers as a student experiment. Furthermore,
between two successive identical points of a wave, during the design, care was taken to ensure that it
while the wave period is the time required for a can easily be maintained and repaired. The parts
complete oscillation of a wave. The wavelength λ can be dismantled and—if necessary—reprinted.
is measured in spatial units, while the wave period The colour concept was developed for the traceab-
is measured in temporal units. ility and understanding of the experimental set-up.

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 A low cost ripple tank experiment with 3D printed components and an Arduino control unit

Figure 3. The highly simplified principle of light refraction by water waves.

The structure (figure 4) consists of the frame

and tray (a), the exciter (b), the light (c) and the
control unit (d). Various inserts (e) and attach-
ments (f) can be mounted on the exciter.

(a) The frame (black tripods) encloses the tub (a

plastic box) from two sides and supports it at a
height of 90 mm above the table surface. The
frame can be dismantled with screws and can
thus be adapted to the shape of the tub (any
size between 150 mm and 190 mm) and at the
same time stowed away to save space.
(b) The central element of the ripple tank is the
exciter (see also figures 5 and 6). This con-
Figure 4. 3D printed ripple tank witch Arduino control
unit. sists of the movable stamp base (green), the
body with the internal magnetic slide, the coil
(red) and the guide rail with height adjustment
and slot for attachment to the rail. Its func-
The individual components are printed in differ- tion is to cause the water surface to vibrate.
ent colour filaments. This serves as a link between The individual components were printed in
the components and their operation and thus offers different colours so that the structure of the
the possibility of visually assigning the respect- exciter is as understandable as possible for the
ive properties to the components. For example, the learners. In this way, the relation and tasks of
lighting component is made of yellow filament, as the components can visually be captured. The
is the button for adjusting the lighting frequency corresponding controls of the control unit are
on the control element. Likewise, the button for designed in the same colours (d). During oper-
varying the frequency of the coil is printed in red, ation, the magnetic slide with inserted neody-
like the coil itself. mium magnets (green) is pushed into or out

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P M Westhoff and A Pusch

(c) The lighting is attached at the side directly

next to the exciter. The LED is placed over the
tub to illuminate the area of the table below the
water tub. The lighting can be operated in two
modes: besides permanent lighting, strobo-
scopic lighting can also be set. The frequency
of the LED is linked to the frequency of the
stamp base. This results in the projection of a
stationary wave pattern on the table.
(d) The ripple tank can be operated with a conven-
tional frequency generator or an inexpensive
control unit consisting of an Arduino with an
amplifier. The frequency and amplitude of the
exciter can be regulated, as well as an optional
frequency difference between the frequency
of the lighting and the frequency of the wave
generator. This is shown on the liquid crystal
Figure 5. Exciter. display.
(e) The inserts can be placed on the edge of
the tub and pushed along the long side. If
necessary, the exciter and the lighting must be
aligned in the middle of the inserts.
(f) The attachments can be plugged into the
foot of the exciter and thus enable easy
(dis)assembly and easy replacement.

The total cost of all components on figure 4,

including printed parts, is around €40. A list of
materials as well as the required 3D print files,
circuit diagram and program code are available as
a free download on https://physikkommunizieren.
de/3d-printed-ripple-tank.

4. Experiments with ripple tanks

Figure 6. General view (left) and cross-section view Various fundamental wave phenomena can be rep-
(right) of the exciter. resented with ripple tanks. In the following, three
classical (famous) phenomena as well as their
of the coil in the body (grey) by the chan- realisation and results with the low cost ripple
ging magnetic field of the coil (red). A spring tank and the Arduino control unit are presented
is inserted above and below the carriage for as examples. In addition, students can also design,
damping (figure 6). This creates an oscillating print and test their own inserts.
movement that is transmitted to the water sur-
face via the rod and the exciter foot. The foot
of the exciter must be directly at the height 4.1. Principle of Huygen
of the water surface. A fine adjustment of the The Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens’
height can be made using the adjusting wheel developed a fundamental wave theory in 1678.
(light blue), which holds the body together His theory is based on a geometric method that
with the carriage unit vertically in the guide allows the position of wave fronts to be calcu-
rail (blue). lated as a function of time. This is summarized in

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 A low cost ripple tank experiment with 3D printed components and an Arduino control unit

Figure 8. Setup for the Huygens’ principal experiment.

Figure 7. The principle of Huygen.

Huygens’ principle: ‘Every point of a wave front

is the starting point of a new spherical elementary
wave. A wave front results from the superposition
of several elementary waves’ (see figure 7). Figure 9. Wave pattern of Huygens’ principle. On the
right-hand side of the image, the contours of the indi-
vidual point waves can be seen. In the course of the
4.2. Realisation in the experiment image to the left side, the individual point waves inter-
fere to form a plane wave.
The basic setup with the attachment ‘multiple
sources’ is required for the experimental setup,
which looks like a wide comb. The insert is
clamped to the bottom of the stamp base and This phenomenon can also be explained using
adjusted to the level of the water surface (figure 8). Huygens’ principle: new elementary waves are
As a result, the following wave pattern can be formed in the gap and propagate in all directions.
observed below the tray (figure 9). Figure 10 shows the diffraction of waves behind
a wall with a slit. Here you can clearly see the
diffraction of the initially plane wave to form a
4.3. Diffraction circular wave. An essential feature of the phe-
Diffraction describes the phenomenon that occurs nomenon is: the narrower the slit, the more the
when a wave hits an obstacle in which there is an incident wave front is diffracted and the more the
opening. Only part of the incoming plane wave wave spreads out in space behind the split. From
gets through the opening. Behind the opening, the this it can be deduced that the laws of geomet-
wave spreads out in a circle in the edge areas—this ric optics only apply if the openings (e.g. the slit)
part of the wave is ‘diffracted’ (depending on the are significantly larger than the wavelength of the
ratio of the size of the opening to the wavelength). light.

November 2023 5 P hy s . E d u c . 5 8 ( 2 0 2 3 ) 0 6 5 0 1 9
P M Westhoff and A Pusch

Figure 13. Young’s double-slit experiment: with incid-

Figure 10. Simplified diffraction of water waves at a ent plane water wave; a wall with two openings and the
slit. On the left, a plane wave runs against an obstacle resulting interference pattern.
with a small opening. The waves spread out in a circle
behind the obstacle.
4.4. Realisation in the experiment
For the experimental set-up, the basic set-up with
the attachment ‘plane wave’ is required. This is
clamped to the bottom of the stamp foot and adjus-
ted to the height of the water surface. In addition,
an obstacle with a gap is placed on the edge of the
tray (figure 11). As a result, the following wave
pattern can be observed below the tray (figure 12).

4.5. Young’s double-slit experiment

In 1801, the scientist Thomas Young first demon-
strated the wave properties of light. He showed
the interference behaviour of light and drew con-
clusions about waves in general. The principle of
the experimental setup known as ‘Young’s double-
Figure 11. Setup for the experiment ‘diffraction at the slit experiment’ is shown in figure 13. If a wave
slit’. hits an obstacle with a gap, a circular wave is
created behind the obstacle (Huygens’ principle,
see above). If these waves hit an obstacle with
two openings, two punctiform waves are created,
which now interfere with each other. In a similar
case of light interference, the individual maxima
and minima can be observed and appear as bright
(constructive interference) or dark (destructive
interference) areas.

4.6. Realisation in the experiment

With the setup different variants of the double-slit
Figure 12. Resulting wave pattern in front and behind test can be implemented. The circular wave exciter
the slit. with a double-slit insert or a dual exciter delivers

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 A low cost ripple tank experiment with 3D printed components and an Arduino control unit

ence the subtleties more easily. A sheet of paper

can be placed under the tray, onto which the vis-
ible experimental results can directly be created as
a drawing (in stroboscopic mode). The possibility
to conduct an experiment by yourself, to influence
the representation of the phenomenon and to get a
haptic, three-dimensional impression of the struc-
ture also make a clear difference to digital altern-
atives (e.g [3]). Our studies showed the suitability
of the material to be used in experiments by both
students (future physics teachers) and pupils (aged
15–19). The colour scheme helps to better under-
stand the relation between the components and the
control.
Figure 14. Structure of the experiment ‘combination
of two circular waves, interference’.
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this
study are openly available at the following
URL/DOI: https://physikkommunizieren.de/3d-
printed-ripple-tank.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Nils Haverkamp from our
Department, the Institute of Didactics of Physics
of the University of Muenster, for programming
Figure 15. Wave pattern of the experiment ‘combina- the code for the automatic control unit and also the
tion of two circular waves, interference’. reviewer for the useful suggestions and remarks
on this article.
good results (figure 14). With the latter, the result
can be seen more clearly (figure 15).
ORCID iDs
5. Conclusion Peter Michael Westhoff 
With the material presented here, all experiments https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7425-0227
of a ‘regular’ commercial ripple tank are possible Alexander Pusch  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-
at a fraction of the price. Depending on the ambi- 5407-8469
ent light conditions, the representation of the phe-
Received 5 May 2023, in final form 28 August 2023
nomena on the table surface is not always quite Accepted for publication 7 September 2023
as clear as that of a conventional ripple tank in https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/acf7a2
the demonstration experiment. However, as a low
cost experiment, this ripple tank can be set up on
References
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[1] Tyler E 1936 Proc. Phys. Soc. 48 659–64
groups, and can be operated by them themselves. [2] Thy S and Iwayama T 2021 Phys. Educ. 56 65025
The students are therefore much closer to the phe- [3] Thepnurat M, Saphet P and Tong-on A 2017
nomenon and can thus also observe and experi- J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 901 12120

November 2023 7 P hy s . E d u c . 5 8 ( 2 0 2 3 ) 0 6 5 0 1 9