Investigation on the effect of the stiffness of a spring on the oscillation period.

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PHYSICS COURSEWORK

Investigation on the effect of the stiffness of a spring on the oscillation period.

AIM

To investigate how the stiffness of a spring effects the period.

APPARATUS

Clamp and stand, stopwatch, springs and mass (constant).

METHOD

A clamp and stand will be set up with a combination of springs attached to it and hanging from the set of springs will be a weight carrier. The weight carrier will hold the masses, and this mass will always be constant to make it a fair test because we are testing the springs not the weights. The springs are the variables. The spring combinations will be varied and this is so we can control the strain force exerted by the spring (stiffness). For example, two springs in parallel have got twice the amount of stiffness as a single spring with springs that have equal stiffness. This is because if two springs are in parallel then they each share the weight attached to them so obviously the spring won’t be extended as much as the single spring, probably only half as far as the spring will stretch for the single spring. The opposite of this happens when the springs are in series. When springs are in series, they are extended as normal as if they were single springs, so two single results will result in an extension that will be double what it would be with just one single spring. Hooke’s law supports this as it suggests that the extension and the mass are in direct proportionality therefore double the load, double the extension, so this must mean half the stiffness.

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So, when the spring combinations are set up, the mass will be pulled down so that it oscillates. 10 oscillations will be measured by a using a stopwatch. I am measuring 10 oscillations instead of one because then the time will be more accurate as it is very difficult to measure one oscillation because it can be very fast and human reaction time could make the time very inaccurate, because the stop watch will be pressed at the wrong times. So by counting 10 there is less of margin of error. Then to get the result for one oscillation ...

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