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Hooke S Law Online Lab RW

physics

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Izzy Nelson
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49 views7 pages

Hooke S Law Online Lab RW

physics

Uploaded by

Izzy Nelson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Physics Lab Instructor: Mr.

Wilson Name(s):

Hooke's Law Lab


In this lab you will measure the spring constant of an assigned spring using two different
methods. In the first method in which we will reference it as Procedure 1, you will plot
the force the spring exerts vs. the distance the spring is stretched. In procedure 2, you
will measure the period for small oscillations for a spring mass system.

Procedure 1
If one end of a spring is fixed and the other end is stretched by a hanging mass some
distance x, the spring will exert a force which tends to restore the spring back to its
original unstretched position. Similarly, if a spring is compressed some distance x, the
spring will exert a force that tends to restore it to its uncompressed position. This is
known as Hooke's Law and can be expressed in equation form as

F = -kx

where F is the restoring force, x is the distance the spring is compressed or stretched, and
k is a constant that depends on the internal properties of the spring, and is called the
spring constant. The value of k will always be positive. The negative sign in the above
equation is for the direction of the restoring force of the spring.

We will use gravity to exert a force on the spring. This is the link for the masses and
springs simulator: https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/masses-and-springs-
basics/latest/masses-and-springs-basics_en.html

You can use the space below to show some of your calculations to obtain T, m , and
k for procedure 2.
Izzy Nelson
Physics Lab Instructor: Mr. Wilson Name(s):

When the link is activated, Click on the box labeled Lab and you see something like this

Using the Spring Strength , set it to the fifth bar from the left. Also
make sure that the unstretched length and resting position boxes are

checked, Then click on

to check that Earth has been selected

Now go to the tool box

and click on ruler and drag and


Physics Lab Instructor: Mr. Wilson Name(s):

position under spring as shown in the next picture: Check the mass

adjustment box and set to 50 grams. You will


also use this control to add additional masses during your experiment. Then from

the masses click and drag the 50 gram

mass and hook to spring as shown: When you get it all set, it should look
similar to this
Physics Lab Instructor: Mr. Wilson Name(s):

picture:

Click on the stop button to stop the oscillation of the mass spring system. Using
the ruler measure the distance between the unstretched length and resting position dashed
lines

Record this measurement in Data Table 1. Be sure to


convert centimeters to meters. The middle column is for force units in newtons. To get
this convert grams into kilograms and multiply by 9.80 m/s/s. Example: 50g/1000 x 9.80
= .490 N, As you can see in the last picture, my ruler shows a stretch of 6.00 cm which I
converted into meters by diving by 100 and I entered that value into Table 1 as 0.0600m.
I want you to coninue collecting the data by adding masses in 25 gram increments and
measure and record the amount of stretch. Stop at 300 g.
Physics Lab Instructor: Mr. Wilson Name(s):

Data Table 1

Mass (g) Force (N) Stretch (m)


50 0.490 0.0600
75 0900
100
125
150
175
200
225 2 205 2800
250
275
300 3700

From the data table and using Excel or some other graphing program, create a graph of
Force on the y-axis and x( amount of spring displacement) on the x-axis. Find the best fit
line to fit your data and determine the slope of the line. This value corresponds to the
spring constant for that spring.

spring constant (k) = _________________________


7829

Procedure 2
The equation for the period of oscillation is

T = 2π (m / k )
where T represents the period measured in seconds. The symbol m represents 1/3 of the
mass of the spring added to the mass on the hanger plus the mass of the hanger. Using the
simulator, we don’t know the mass of the spring. Therefore, we may not get very good
results for the second procedure, but we will see. For m we will just use 300 g(.300kg)
The symbol k represents the value of the spring constant.

Measure the period of small oscillations with a relatively large mass (300g). The best
way to obtain the value of T is to measure the total time for 20 oscillations and then
Physics Lab Instructor: Mr. Wilson Name(s):

divide that time by the number of oscillations. Go to the measuring tools

click and drag stopwatch near

If your spring and mass is not moving up and down, you can click on the mass and pull
slightly down and release. It should start moving. You can then time for 20 oscillations.

Use the equation (T = 2π (m / k ) ) to determine the spring constant for your assigned
spring.
Compare your results from procedure 1 and procedure 2 by calculating the per cent
difference of the spring constant obtained from the two procedures.

Time for 20 oscillations = _______________ Period for one oscillation T = ________


24.35 1.218
3001000
Calculated mass (m) = ____________ kg (Show calculations)
0.300
7 829
Spring constant (k) from procedure 1 =___________________
3 6 118 2
7 983
Spring constant (k) from Procedure 2 = __________________ (Show calculations)

1 95
% difference = __________________ Show calculations.
1 7.8297.983 7.906 100 1.951
Don’ forget to attach graph from procedure 1 when submitting this assignment
4

0 2 4
strong
Disp 1m

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