LabReport12:

SimpleHarmonicMotion,
MassonaSpring
04/20/12

JamesAllison
section20362

Group5
JamesAllison,ClintRowe,
&WilliamCochran

Objective:
ForourfinallabofassociatedwithphysicsI,wewilldissectthemotionsofamassona
spring.Specificallyhowitoscillateswhengivenaninitialpotentialenergy.Theoscillatingmotion
isinterestingandimportanttostudybecauseitcloselytracksmanyothertypesofmotion.
Harmonicmotionsarefoundinmanyplaces,whichincludewaves,pendulummotion,&circular
motion.Wewillstudyhowamassmovesandwhatpropertiesofspringgivethemassa
predictablemovement.Itwillbeinterestingtounderstandwhatgivesthemasstheoscillating
property.Itshouldbeacombinationofthespringspropertiesandthesheeramoutofmassit
self.
Wewillberecordingbasicinformation.Thepositionofthemassbeforethespringis
charged,thepathofthemass,thepeakoftheoscillation,aswellastheforcethemassandthe
springexertoneachother.Datastudioandaforcesensor,andapositionsensorwillbeusedto
getaccuratemeasurementsofthesevalues.

Discussion:
Whenaspringishangingverticallywithnomassattachedithasagivenlength.This
valuecouldbedenotedas L .Whenamassisaddedtothespringittakesthelengthof L + L .
Thenwhenthespringischargedwithadditionalpotentialenergy,byincreasingthelengthto
L + L + Ladditionalforce where Ladditinalforce canalsobedefinedas x thespringwillexertwhats
calledarestoringforcewhichisdefinedas F restore = kx. where k isaspringconstant.Every
springhasaspringconstant,thisistheamountofresistancethataparticularspringexertsto
retainitsoriginalshape.Thereasonwhy k hasanegativevalueistoshowthattheforce
exertedbythespringisintheoppositedirectionof x .Thisrestoringforceiswhatcausesthe
masstheoscillate.Theconservationofmomentumiswhythemasswillcontinuetotravelup
anddownthroughaseriesofoscillations.
Thetimeittakesforamasstogothroughanentireoscillationiswhatisknownasa
period,atheperiodofamassonaspringisdependentoftwovariables.Thevalueofmass,
andthethespringconstant.Thisperiodisdefinedas T where, T = 2 mk .

Itisimportanttomaketheadditionalnotethatinitialenergythatisinitiallygiventothe
springfromthechangeisposition,intheformofpotentialenergy,wouldbeperfecting
conservediffrictionplayednorole&thespringwasconsideredperfectlyelastic.Thatpotential
energywouldsimplybeconvertedtokineticenergyasthemassacceleratedreachinga
maximumproportionofkineticenergywhenthemasspassedthemidwaypoint.Whichwould
beturnedbackintokineticenergyasthemassmovedtotheoppositeextreme.
Forourparticularstudywesetupaforcesensorwhichwouldmeasureapullingforcein
theearthwarddirection.Thissensorwascalibratedat2point,azeromassandwithaknown
mass.Thenaspringwashungfromthesensoranditwastorntoazeropoint.Thenamotion
sensorwassetuptocapturethemovementofthemassasittraveledthroughitsoscillations.
Thissensorwassettoafrequencyof 5hz .Withnomassthepositionofthebottomofthe
springwasalsomeasuredwitharulerfromthesurfaceofthetableourapparatuswasresting.

Westartedwithamassof .025kg ,andthenproceededtoaddmassinunitsof .01kg ,

untilafinalmassof .075kg wasreached.Thedisplacement, x ,wastakendowneachtimeand
theforcerecordedbydatastudiowasalsorecorded.OurcompletedataisshowninTable1.0

onthenextpage.

Table1.0
Equilibrium
Position

Mass

Position

Displacement

Force

0.5269m

0kg

0.5269m

0m

0N

.025kg

0.4875m

0.0384m

0.1962N

.035kg

0.4585m

0.0684m

0.3354N

.045kg

0.4318m

0.0951m

0.3730N

.055kg

0.4035m

0.1234m

0.4558N

.065kg

0.3750m

0.1519m

0.5348N

.075kg

0.3480m

0.1789m

0.6251N

Wethenmovedintothesecondportionofourlab,whichwastoanalyzethepathofthe
massasitwasgivenaninitialcharge.Wepulledthemassdownandreleasedittoletit
oscillate.Werecordedtheseoscillationswithdatastudioforabout10seconds.
Afterthisdatawascollectedwestudiedtodeterminethelengthoftheperiodofeach
oscillation.Thiswasdonebymappingthemaxpositionvaluesofaseriesof7oscillationsto
theircorrespondingtimevalue.Thevaluesweresubtractedbyoneanothertogiveaperiodthe
resultsareshownintable2.1.
Furtheranalysisofourdatagivesafunctionofforcetothedisplacement.Thisisshown
belowinGraph1belowisforallthemasses.

Graph1

Conclusion:

Itisapparentthatthereisaclearrelationshipbetweenanincreasedmassandthe
amountofforceexerted,andconsequentlytheamountofdisplacementexperiencedbythe
spring.Alsoitwasprovedtobeaccuratethattherelationshipbetweentheperiod,mass,and
thespringconstantwereinfact T = 2 mk .Thiswasprovedexperimentallywithincredible

accuracy.Weachievedpercenterrorofonly 0.622% .Thiswasthemostaccurateexperiment

allsemester.Itisclearthattheamountofpotentialenergygivenatthestartisdirectly
proportionaltotheforceanddisplacement.Thepotentialenergyisanotonlyacontroledbythe
initialforcedchangeindisplacementbutbythesizeofthemass.Thiswasshownclearlyinour
data.

Work:
ForQuestion1:
m = .055kg
k = 3.36 kg
s2

T = 2 mk = 2

ForQuestion2:
T theoretical = 0.803s
T measured = 0.798s

0.055kg
3.36 kg
s2

= 20.0163s2 = 2(0.128s) = 0.256s = 0.803s


%Error = (

T measuredT theoretical
)100%
T theoretical

= ( 0.798s0.803s
)100% =
0.803s

( 0.005s
0.803s )100% = ( 0.00622)100% = 0.622%