HOOKE'S LAW LAB
Devin Frantz
Partner: None
Completion Date: February 28, 2014
Devin Frantz
Partner: None
Completion Date: February 28, 2014
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this experiment is to test Hooke's Law and see if a spring will follow this law.
THEORY:
Hooke's Law was developed by Robert Hooke in 1660 and this law pertains to elasticity. This law is used to show the relationship between forces applied to a spring the elasticity of the spring. This relationship was described in an equation that Hooke used. This law has been applied in making a balanced spring that was used in portable time pieces. Hooke's Law takes place in a very small frame of reference thus only giving a person small deformations of the spring. Hooke's Law also tells us that a spring that is stretched will return to its original position.
Hooke's Law: F = -k x
Force = Mass x Gravity
Gravity = 9.8 m/s^2
Hooke's Law: F = -k x
Force = Mass x Gravity
Gravity = 9.8 m/s^2
EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE:
First I used a stand and attached a reflective ruler on the stand to measure how far the weights brought the spring down. Then I hooked on a 5 gram weight hook on the spring, this will be used to hold the weights. Then I tied another hook to the bottom of the previous hook to hold even more weight. I started off with 440 grams of weight and took that measure and got 14.3 centimeters. I took this 440 and divided it by 10 (10 being the number of weight trials I did) and rounded to the nearest whole number being 40 grams. Every test I did I removed 40 grams from the weight and took that measurement. I charted all of this data, found the force for all the points and proceeded to graph them all.
DATA:
ANALYSIS:
Math used in data:
Ex:
F = M x G
F = 80g x (1kg/1000g) x 9.8 m/s^2
F = 0.78N
F = -k x
y = m x + b
Ex:
F = M x G
F = 80g x (1kg/1000g) x 9.8 m/s^2
F = 0.78N
F = -k x
y = m x + b
CONCLUSION:
According to the data I used, tested and received the spring I used followed Hooke's Law. This data was collected by finding the maximum weight on the spring to give me the lowest measurement on the ruler and then subtract 40 grams off of each trial. Even though this experiment was a success there was still some error involved in taking measurements. When I was recording the position of the weight holder the spring was bouncing around a little bit and caused some uncertainty in my measurements. This error could have been avoided if I would have waited a little longer to take my measurements. In this experiment there is the possibility of parallax error and to avoid as much as possible I used a reflective ruler to match up my measurement point. This eliminated a lot of error but that doesn't mean all of it would not be there. To conclude there was error involved in the experiment and I did everything I could to avoid it and I showed that the spring I used did in fact follow Hooke's Law.
REFERENCES:
Information on Hooke's Law http://www.universetoday.com/55027/hookes-law/