A6: Determining the force constant
Objective
To find out the force constant of a given spring using Hooke’s Law.
Result
Calculation
Slope of the best-fit-line:
= 9.65
The spring constant (k):
K = = 4.089
Discussion
Assumptions for the experiment
In this experiment, we assume that the spring is weight-less. Also, we assumed that the effect of air resistance acting on the mass and the spring is negligible
.
Difficulties encountered
When conducting the experiment, we initially used a spring which cannot be extended significantly. As a result, we cannot conduct the experiment efficiently as we couldn’t see the tiny change in period. Later, we replaced it with another spring with greater extension so we could conduct the experiment more smoothly.
We encountered difficulties in counting the number of oscillation because initially ...
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Discussion
Assumptions for the experiment
In this experiment, we assume that the spring is weight-less. Also, we assumed that the effect of air resistance acting on the mass and the spring is negligible
.
Difficulties encountered
When conducting the experiment, we initially used a spring which cannot be extended significantly. As a result, we cannot conduct the experiment efficiently as we couldn’t see the tiny change in period. Later, we replaced it with another spring with greater extension so we could conduct the experiment more smoothly.
We encountered difficulties in counting the number of oscillation because initially the mass was moving up-and-down very fast. Luckily, we came to a solution to count the number of oscillations accurately by counting the number out loud.
If the mass of the hanger and slotted masses is too small, the spring cannot show a significant extension and if the mass is too great, the spring might be unable to support it and the slotted masses may fall. We have to experiment with different masses so as to reach an accurate result for the experiment.
As the slotted masses are not exactly the same as the mass marked on it, so we have to weigh the masses separately when doing the experiment.
Source of error
Effect of air resistance acting on the slotted mass and the hanger cannot be neglected. Therefore, the oscillation might not be completely ideal. The spring is not weight-less as we assumed. The friction acting on the spring and the clamp might affect the result of the experiment. Also, human usually have reaction time so the time that we measured is not hundred percent correct. Moreover, as the slotted masses are not oscillating perpendicularly, the time required to finish one oscillating will be larger.
Ways of improvement
As the time of 20 oscillations might be affected by human reaction time, we could improve by using data-logger next time so the result obtained could be more accurate.
We could also repeat the experiment with counting the time needed for more than 20 oscillations so that we could lower the percentage error caused by inaccurate time recorded.
Conclusion
The spring constant (k) obtained from the experiment is 4.089.