24-Nov.-14: Mass-Spring Oscillations

PURPOSE:

To show how the period of oscillation in a spring changes with a variation in the mass and the spring constant for a mass-spring system.

This task was accomplished with three other groups and each group equipped with their own spring. Each group's spring had a different spring constant.
We then added the same mass* to our systems so that the only variable would be the spring constant.


After sharing those findings with other groups, we added different masses to our own spring so that the mass is the only variable.
This entire process should allow us to find how the period changes with a varying mass or spring constant.



APPARATUS:







Equipment:

A spring, secured in a fixed position
A mass, to match the masses of the other groups
Three different masses
A motion sensor, to measure the spring constant and period



EXPERIMENT:

1. We began by measuring the spring constant of our spring.
   To do this we attached a 50-g mass to the spring and let the motion sensor detect the position of the bottom end of the spring with no mass attached to the spring and compared it to the position of the bottom end with a mass attached to it, also detected by the motion sensor.
   
   After finding that the position without a mass attached to be 33-cm
   and the position with a mass attached to be 22.9-cm.
   We used Hooke's Law to find k.
   
   
   
   The other three groups also did this same measurement and shared their values.
2. Using the motion sensor, each group measured the period of oscillation with the same effective mass attached to the their spring. We created a graph with a power fit for the four values for the spring constant and the period.
   
   
   
3. We then individually measured the period of oscillation with three new masses attached to the spring.
   
   
   

CONCLUSION:

Our group was on the "left side"