Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Hooke's law lab report. Hookes law and the investigation of spring constant k

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Hooke's law and the investigation of spring constant k * Aim To examine Hooke's law and to determine the value of spring constant k. * Introduction Robert Hooke (1635-1708) was born at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, son of John Hooke, curate at All Saints' Church [1]. He was one of the most brilliant and versatile of seventeenth-century English scientists, who discovered the law of elasticity. Between 1658 and 1678 Robert Hooke worked on his invention of the watch-spring and developed his theory of elasticity, now known as Hooke's law.[2] Hooke's law states that "the extension of a helical spring is directly proportional to the weight applied, provided the elastic limit of the spring is not exceeded." [3] However, the limitation of this law is if the spring is stretched beyond its elastic limit, meaning that there is a limit to a spring where if you stretch it too much it will deform, thus the spring will have a new spring constant.[4] ...read more.

Middle

Beginning his experiments around 1658 he had made two significant steps by 1660, namely the use of a balance controlled by a spiral spring and an improved escapement called the anchor escapement. In 1660 he discovered an instance of Hooke's law while working on designs for the balance springs of clocks. However he only announced the general law of elasticity in his lecture of spring given in 1678. [5] Young's modulus is a measure of the ability of a material to withstand changes in length when under lengthwise tension or compression. Sometimes referred to as the modulus of elasticity, Young's modulus is equal to the longitudinal stress divided by the strain. Stress and strain may be described as follows in the case of a metal bar under tension. Thus Young's modulus may be expressed mathematically as: *where This is a specific form of Hooke's law of elasticity. ...read more.

Conclusion

Extension e ±0.001(m) Mass (kg) Weight (N) 58 0.058 0.2 1.96 92 0.092 0.4 3.92 125 0.125 0.6 5.88 160 0.16 0.8 7.84 194 0.194 1 9.8 Table 1. Data collected from the experiment Trend line k = 57.6 N/m k max = 58.3 N/m k min = 56.1 N/m * * Estimation of errors: * Percentage of errors: * Discussion The experiment was done smoothly and carried out the precise results. The results show the obedience to Hooke's law, which means the force applied is directly proportional to the displacement. The value of R2 is also close to 1, which implies that the trend line is very linear. During the experiment, astonishing situations did not arise, or no anomalous features of data found. However, the spring sometimes was unstable as it moved up and down, especially when the weight was just added, making it hard to check the extension. Therefore, the errors which occurred should be mainly due to parallax. The solution to this problem could be waiting for the spring to be stable, then do the measurement. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our University Degree Physics section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related University Degree Physics essays

  1. The aim of this experiment was to set up, calibrate and use a model ...

    of 0.1231026 mm/D. It is easier to see the implications of these errors in the results in graphical form. The graph has the possibility of having a gradient within the standard error of ?0.1261026 mm/D. The practical calibration constant was worked out to be 20.94104 ?0.1261026 mm/D.

  2. Medical Physics

    MRI provides an unparalleled view inside the body. The level of detail is extraordinary compared with other imaging modality. By changing exam parameters, the MRI system can cause tissues in the body to take on different appearances. This helps the radiologist to determine if something seen is normal or not.

  1. Free essay

    Measurement of gravity using a rigid pendulum

    To measure T accurately to 1 part in 2000, first a series of measurements was taken of 5 periods of the pendulum. From these results an estimate of the error in T was found and to reduce this error we needed to time a larger amount of oscillations.

  2. Torque Physics Lab Report. The purpose of this experiment was to help understand ...

    Position (cm) Force (N) = m*g Force Down F1 0.100 20.0 0.980 F2 0.050 70.0 0.490 F3 0.050 90.0 0.490 F4 0.171 51.1 1.68 Force Up F5 0.399 51.1 3.91 Table 3: Torque Table Direction of Torque Force # Force (N)

  1. The aim of this report is to give a summary of the experiments executed ...

    For this to occur accurately, there has to be sufficient time for the number to be converted from digital to analogue and compared with the input signal before continuing counting. The zener-diode is used to pull down any current from going into the nand gate.

  2. Investigating factors which affect the period time of a simple pendulum

    * 70cm length of string * Masking Tape * A desk * G clamp * Stopwatch The clamp stand is connected to the boss clamp, which will provide the pivot for the pendulum and to ensure that it is high enough not to be obstructed by the desk.

  1. SELECTED PROBLEMS OF MODERN PHYSICS I. THE PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT

    a fixed nucleus * the mass, m, of the electron does not charge during the motion (Fig.5.14) According to Bohr's assumptions, an electron moves with a constant orbital speed, v. Such movement takes place when the inward centripetal force, Fc=mv2/r, keeps the electron in its orbit.

  2. Chemistry - Transition Assignment: J Thomson; J Chadwick; N Bohr

    increases. That when it loses energy it undergoes de-excitation, and n decreases. Electrons had to change their energy levels by jumping between the stationary states as they underwent excitation and de-excitation, emitting light (photons), the wavelength of which depended on the energy difference between levels; the quantum number.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work