Using your measurements of the mass and spring

Period

You made some measurements of the time required for a mass hanging from a spring to oscillate 20 times.

1. Compute the period for each trial
2. Compute the average period

Angular frequency

The period P of an oscillating object is related to the angular frequency ω via

• Compute the angular frequency based on your measurements
• What are the units?

Spring constant

The angular frequency, in turn, is related to the mass of the object m and the force constant k of the spring:

• Re-arrange this formula so that the spring constant is by itself on the left-hand side, and everything else on the right-hand side.
• Compute the spring constant based on your measurements

If you have time compare your spring constant to the values derived by other groups.

• Are your values the same?
• Should they be the same?
• How precise is each measurement?
• How many digits should you write

Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.