This model simulates the wave generating machine created by John
Shive at Bell Laboratories and made famous by the Similarities
in Wave Behavior film. The machine consists of horizontal cross-
bars welded to a central wire spine that is perpendicular to the
bars. The spine was constructed so that it can freely twist,
allowing the cross-bars to produce wave-like patterns. The
simulation allows various pulse shapes to be sent down the
machine by selecting a function for the twist of the first rod
or by dragging the first rod. The far end of the wave machine
can be free or fixed, which changes the nature of the reflected
wave. Change the lengths of the bars to simulate the effect of a
wave propagating in a non-uniform medium. The Wave Machine model
is a supplemental simulation for the article "Standing Waves in
a Nonuniform Medium" by Paul Gluck in The Physics Teacher 49(2),
76-77 (2011) and has been approved by the authors and The
Physics Teacher editor. The Wave Machine model was created using
the Easy Java Sim