PHY116

Name: M. Fahim Hoque

Group: 05
Data collection Date: 23.02.23
Submission Date: 02.03.23

Experiment number: 05
Name of experiment: TO DETERMINE THE SPRING
CONSTANT AND EFFECTIVE MASS.

Theory:
Forces cause objects to move or deform in some way. Newton’s third law states that for every
force there is an equal and opposite force. This is true for springs, which store and use
mechanical energy to do work. Springs are elastic, which means after they are deformed (when
they are being stressed or compressed), they return to their original shape. Springs are in many
objects we use on a daily basis. They in ball point pens, mattresses, trampolines, and absorb
shock in our bikes and cars. According to the Third Law of Motion, the harder you pull on a
spring,
the harder it pulls back. Springs obey Hooke’s Law, discovered by Robert Hooke in the 17th
century. Hooke’s law is described by:
F=−k ∆ x

where F is the force exerted on the spring in Newton’s (N), k is the spring constant, in Newtons
per meter (N/m), and x is the displacement of the spring from its equilibrium position. The spring
constant, k, is representative of how stiff the spring is stiffer (more difficult to stretch) springs
have higher spring constants. The displacement of an object is a distance measurement that
describes that change from the normal, or equilibrium, position. In a real spring–mass system,
the spring has a non-negligible mass, m. Since not all of the spring's length moves at the same
2
mv
velocity, v, as the suspended mass m, its kinetic energy is not equal to . As such, m cannot
2
be simply added to M to determine the frequency of oscillation, and the effective mass of the
spring is defined as the mass that needs to be added to M to correctly predict the behavior of the
system.

If a spring be clamped vertically at the end P, and loaded with mass m0, at the other end A, then
the period of vibration of the spring along a vertical line is given by,

T =2 π
√ m 0+ m
k
=2 π
√ M
k
… … … … … … … (1 )

where m' is a constant called the effective mass of the spring and k, the spring constant i.e., the
ratio between the added force and the corresponding extension of the spring. How the mass of
the spring contributes to the effective mass of the vibrating system can be shown as follows.
Consider the kinetic energy of a spring and its load undergoing simple harmonic motion. At the
instant under consideration let the load m0 be moving with velocity v0 as shown in the figure
below.
 Figure 1

At this same instant an element dm of the mass m of the spring will also be moving up but with a
velocity v which is smaller than v0. It is evident that the ratio between v and v0 is just the ratio
v v0 v0
between y and y0. Hence, = i . e , v = y .
y y0 y0

m
The kinetic energy of the spring alone will be. But dm may be written as , where m is the
y0

mass of the spring. Thus, the integral equals to ( )

1 m 2
v . The total kinetic energy of the system
2 3 0

will then be
1
( m
)
m + v 2 and the effective mass of the system is, therefore, m0 +
2 0 3 0
m
3

Hence,

1
m = m..............................(2)
'
3

where m' = effective mass of the spring and m = true mass of the spring. The applied force m 0g is
proportional to the extension I within the elastic limit. Therefore mg=kl.

Hence,

g
l= m .........................(3)
k

Apparatus:
 A spiral spring, convenient masses with hanging arrangement, clamp or a hook attached to a
rigid framework of heavy metal rods, weighing balance, stop clock and scale. The spiral spring
may be a steel spring capable of supporting sufficient loads.

Data:

Table A: Data for Spring Constant and Average Spring

Constant

No. of Loads, M0 M0g(kg.ms- Extension, Spring Average K

Observations (gm)
2
) x Constant,
g = 9.81 (cm) K
(N/m)
1 100 0.981 1.6 61.3125

2 200 1.962 6.7 29.2836

3 300 2.943 12 24.5250

4 400 3.924 17 23.0824 34.5509

 Table B: Data for Extension, Time Period and T2

No. of Loads, M0 No. of Total Time Period, T T2

Observation (gm) Vibrations
s
1 100 20 8.6 0.4300 0.1849

2 125 20 10.3 0.5150 0.2652

3 200 20 13.18 0.6590 0.4343

4 225 20 14.13 0.7065 0.4991

5 300 20 16.25 0.8125 0.6602

6 325 20 16.85 0.8425 0.7098

7 400 20 18.54 0.9275 0.86397

 8 425 20 19.24 0.9620 0.9254

Original length of the spring, L: 6.5 cm

Original mass of the spring: 23.445 gm

Calculation:
Average spring constant, K calculated using data from table = 34.55 N/m

= 34550 dynes/cm
x 2−x 1 0.380−0.320
Spring constant: y 2− y 1
=
0.16−0.12
=2

F
K = m g=2 x 9.81=19.62 N / m=19620 dynes / cm

Effective mass:
' 1 1
m = m= x 23.445=7.815 gm
3 3

Effective mass from graph = 7.996gm

7.996−7.815
Percentage error: 7.815
x 100 %=2.32 %

Discussion:
From our data, the spring constant and the effective mass of the given
spiral spring are 19260 dynes/cm and 7.815gm.
1. Some instrumental error may arise if main scale zero doesn’t coincide with
circular scale zero.
2. Measurement of time period is not accurate due to personal observation
error.
3. Oscillations should occur in vertical plane but it oscillates little in a
horizontal plane also.
4. Higher number of measurements would give us more accurate and precise
value.
5. There might have been slight parallax error while measuring time period.

Graph:
Fig1: Graph of extension against mass(kg).
Fig2: Graph of T2 against mass(gm).