USKUDAR UNIVERSITY
PHYSICS LABORATORY
Objective:
Calculation of the period and the spring constant by observing the harmonic motion of a mass
attached to the end of a spring, the weight of the mass connected to the springs and the spring
constant according to the oscillation period
Materials:
Spring, ruler, timer, masses of 100, 200 and phet simulation
(https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/masses-and-springs/latest/masses-and-springs_en.html)
Theoretical background:
Consider a spring that extended some distance by a force of F, in this case the relationship
between the restoring force F and the displacement from equilibrium position x is given as
follows
๐น = โ๐๐ฅ
Here F is the force on the spring, x is the displacement of the end of the spring from its
equilibrium position, and k is the spring constant, a property of the spring. For springs this
relation is known as Hookeโs Law. The weight of a mass suspended to the end of a spring is the
stretching force of the spring. Hanging different weights to the end of a spring and measuring the
extensions allow us to test the springโs elasticity. The value of k is a measure of stiffness. A stiff
spring will have a large value for k.
Suppose you hang a spring with force constant k and suspend from it a body with mass m. Now
m is at equilibrium position, x. If you pull the mass down little bit and let it go m start moving
around x position and its harmonic motion is observed. a simple harmonic motion, the force
acting on the object is proportional to the distance of the object for equilibrium. The elapsed time
of the mass m passing two times from any fixed point is called the Oscillation Period of
harmonic motion. The oscillation period T depends on the spring constant k and the mass, m, of
attached body and it is given by
๐ = 2๐โ ๐/k
