My hypothesis is that I think that stiffer (harder) the spring combination will be faster the oscillation will be. I say this because if 2 springs in series (next to each other) are loaded with a mass of 10N as they are 2 and that both are holding it back they will share the mass and each will be pulled by a force of 5N Newton so the oscillation (less force will the spring need to input to brig it back). However if 2 springs in series (one after the other) are loaded with 10n as they are one after the other they will both have a force of 10N acting on them, so if 10N makes 1 spring go down 10 cm the extension will be in total of 20cm so for the mass to oscillate this distance it will take longer than if the 2 springs in parallel share this and only lower in total 5cm it will be a lot faster for the mass to oscillate.
The following is the table that I will use record my results.
And from those results do average period which I will then plot on a graph against the constant K and depending on the curve that I will obtain which I think will be an indirect proportionality line graph I will process it further on using log’s or maybe if the equation of the line gives me directly the missing power I will draw another graph from there.
Finally for the safety of the experiment first I need to not get any spring to extend more than 30cm or it will turn plastic which is one of the reasons why I am only using approx. 300g. Also I need to be careful to not pull the spring too much and that its restoring force is too big and there is the risk of it flying off and hit something or someone or damage other apparatus. Mainly the safety is to be sensible in what I am doing and not exaggerate.
Skill Area O: Obtaining Evidence
Table to show the results obtained in the experiment:
Table to show value that will be used to draw graph:
Skill area A: Analysing and considering evidence
Looking at the results that I obtained in this experiment and processing into a graph as previously done it is obvious that stiffer the spring constant faster will be the period, also a pattern can be seen which is that there is an indirect proportionality between the stiffness of the spring and the period. Now looking at the equation of the graph that I obtained Y=3.2332x to the power of-0.4675 which suggests to me that if I draw a graph of the period against 1/square root of K. Now I came to this conclusion by first supposing that there should a direct proportionality between the period and the stiffness and that it could be compared to Y=mx + c and that x should be the power I am looking to get the direct proportionality, straight line graph. So I entered my data in the program and gave me an indirect proportionality curve with an equation which had already the power x there which is –0.4675 so by rounding it up it came to –0.5 which is the same as 1/ square root of K.
Now having I processed my data and I obtained the following new value:
Now having processed and drawn the graph it is shown that the period is directly proportional to 1/square of K. SO now to confirm my conclusion I should get the same power for the log of the original values drawn on a graph and would definitely confirm my conclusion.
The following graph are these points plotted:
So now looking at the equation of the log graph that I have drawn the is Y= -0.4636 + 0.5056 so the power that I would need to multiply the stiffness K is 0.4636 with this graph and the other suggests –0.4675 so they both confirm that my conclusion is in the sense that the period an oscillating spring is directly proportional to 1/ square of K.
So now having confirmed all that I have drawn the graph of the period against 1/square root of K, which gives a direct proportionality graph.
Now in the context of my hypothesis I was right in the sense that there was going to be an indirect proportionality and I was right as the evidence of my result show that stiffer is the spring faster is the period. I think that the results turned out as I expected for the reason that from my knowledge and mathematical sense I worked out the principle in which two spring would chare the force applied and that two in a row would have the same force exerted on them so they would extend the same distance and for the same force need to more distance. Now the result matched quite well with my prediction as the curve obtained was an indirect proportionality line graph.
Skill Area E: Evaluating
In my opinion the results that I obtained in this are reliable to a certain extent as in this experiment there are always time errors due to reaction time. Also it was hard to determine when to stop the stopwatch witch made hard for me to say whether the results I obtained could be used or not but I found a way after having done the experiment which was to use the equation: P=
Once its re-arranged it gives me the following equation P=
However this formulae is not perfect and looking in some textbooks I found that you have to add a third of the weight of the spring when its oscillating which makes me say that the experiment isn’t exactly fair as some combination are heavier than others here is a table of the mass of the spring and the effective which in total oscillates during the experiment.
What I mean to prove with this is that it is impossible for me to get perfect results in this experiment as for a start there are some slight mass difference so it isn’t perfect.
Now looking on the straight line graph that I obtained there are some values which are not on the straight line these values are the values for the too fastest period this is due the periods were so fast it was very hard to get them as right as the other oscillation because they were oscillating at an extremely fast rate which was hard for me to determine when the oscillation was finished. This is why I think these two points were off the straight-line graph and they introduced a certain range of error of 0.0582.
In my opinion I have enough results however it would have been better I had been able to obtain more evidence this way I might have been able to take away some results which were a bit of the line and maybe cause some partial error. But still yes I have enough evidence to draw a conclusion which led me to draw this conclusion. The period of an oscillating spring is directly proportional to 1/the square root of k (its stiffness).
First to support my evidence I could have used different springs with different stiffness which could give me even more support on my conclusion as these were only combination of similar type of springs and if others were used it would definitely prove that my conclusion is right. Also I think that my method can improved by putting an arrow along a stick in the middle of the spring oscillation and count the oscillation form that point because this way you always start and stop the stopwatch at the same tome as I encountered the problem that I wasn’t sure if it stopped there so it makes the timing easier. Also it reduces the time error as it is going at a middle speed not its maximum speed there are less chance of having time errors.
