- And lastly one last clamp will be used to clamp the bottom of the stand to the table. This is done to stop the stand from toppling over.
Procedure
After I have set all the equipment in to place. The experiment will be started with zero weights on it. The reading on the ruler will be taken and then the 100g weight will be put on the hanger one weight at a time. Every time a weight is put on a hanger the extension of the spring will be measured in cm and converted to mm, because this gives a more accurate reading. Before the experiment starts the elastic limit of the spring will have to be found out, the spring will not be able to return to its original shape. So the elastic limit will have to be found out so its not passed, it does pass its elastic limit we start to get anomalous results. The elastic limit in this experiment is 1000g. So the number of weights used have to be less than 1000g or 1kg which = 1N. So 9 weights will be used in this experiment totalling to 900g just under the limit. The experiment will be repeated twice and a average result will be taken, this will help we to get more accurate results.
Safety
For safety reasons the stand that that will be used will be clamped on to the table its on this will prevent any accidents from happening which could really seriously injure some body. Also we will use springs which have not passes there elastic limit if they have this could be dangerious because the weights on the spring will not be secure and can fall at any moment. Another than that this experiment does not have any other hazards.
Hypothesis
The perdiction is that as the amount of weights on the spiral spring increase the further the spring will stretch. So the extension of the spring will be will be in moderately steady step up, unit the spring reaches its elastic limit. This will be because the extension may have some proportionality or relationship with the load applied on it. So if the weight put on it increases so will the extension of the spring and the distance it will stretch.
Diagram
Implementation
Table of results
I think my results where accurate to a particular degree. Although I got one or two anomalous results. There was some systematic error because when measuring the extension of the spring on the meter ruler the readings might have been a bit of mark. This might have happened because my eyes where not correctly aligned with the ruler. So the result would have been recorded a value which is too high. This could have been corrected by looking horizontally at the ruler rather than at an angle.
There might have also been some random error because I was using a 1 meter ruler which its smallest reading is in mm, but this is not small enough because sometimes the actual length will be above the nearest scale division, sometimes below it. So the right length would be say for example I read 234mm from the 1 meter ruler, it would be written as the following: (234+1) mm because we are not quite sure if its 1 mm above or below.
Random errors can be reduced by improving the techniques used, using more precise instruments or multiple measurements, but you can not completely eliminate the error, you can just reduce it. Which increases the precision of the results. Whereas in systematic errors can be totally eliminated if better techniques and instruments are used. Which will increase the accuracy of the final result by a long way.
Analysis conclusion
Looking at the results that I have obtain you can see that there is clearly see that there is a relationship between the extension and the load, you can see a steady pattern which shows that as the force steady increases so does the extension of the spiral spring. There is also another pattern in the results. Notice how the first 5N the spring extension increases about 3mm on each Newton added in the first table. However it occurred to me as the extension increased the difference between the results slightly rose, this could be as the spring was getting nearer to its limit of proportionality. When I did the experiment again and wrote down the results the first extension was higher than on the pervious table, this might have happed because I used the same spiral spring that I had used before of it was already got stretched quite a lot and so made the reading a bit higher. Also as it got closer to the elastic limit more and more anomalous readings started to come up.
In the tables of results the stretching force was obtained my using the formula F=mg, where g = 9.8N/kg. The results show that my prediction at the start of the investigation was right, as the load applied on the spring increases, so does the extension of the spiral spring. So the two are proportion to each other, this is there relationship.
The graph that Is plotted on the pervious page is extension of the spring against the stretching force which is in newtons (N). when the line of best fit is drawn on the graph the plotted points come really close to it. This shows that the extension of the spring is directly proportional to the stretching force. In other words, if the stretching force is doubled the extension id doubled and so on. This relationship can be expressed as the following: Stretching force(F) Extension(X)
F=Kx
K= F/x
Now that the graph is completed the spring constant can be calculated by using the equation F=KX where K is the spring constant. The gradient(slope) of the line also gives the spring constant because stretching force divided by the extension. The formula for finding the gradient of a grade is as following:
= Y2 – Y1. = 9-0 = (0.253 + error)
X2 – X1 35.5-0
Spring constant (K) = (0.253 + error)
So the spring constant would be 0.253 in the force was in is in newtons, but if its in grams the answer would be( 25.49 + error).
