Simple Harmonic Motion Lab

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In this experiment we studied the motion of a vibrating spring. For the first part of the experiment we hooked a 50 g mass holder to the spring and recorded the total mass on the spring as the reference point 〖 M〗_0. The reference or equilibrium position, x_0, of the spring was then observed and measured to be 21.2 cm. The mass load was then increased by 10 g until the total mass load was 110g. I found that as the mass load was increased the displacement from the reference position increased. After measuring the displacement from the reference position, we studied periods of vibration. We started by suspending 10 g from the mass holder and recording the total weight on the spring (10 g plus the weight of the mass holder). The mass was displaced about 3 cm from its equilibrium position and released. A total of 15 oscillations were counted and the time it took to complete those was measured. This was repeated and the average of the two times was taken and divided by the number of oscillations to find the period. The procedure was repeated using masses of 20 g, 30 g, 40 g, 50 g, and 60 g. It was found that as the mass load on the spring increased the period also increased. From the data collected at this point in the experiment, it could be concluded that both period and displacement from the equilibrium position are directly proportional to the mass load on the spring. Following the observation and calculation of the period, the mass load M was plotted against the displacement x with data from the first part of the experiment. Using the slope of line and a variation of equation (2), =k/〖4π〗^2 , the spring constant k was calculated to be 7,546 g/〖cm〗^2 . A curve of mass load versus period squared from the second part of the experiment was plotted and the slope of line was used to calculate the spring constant a second time. In this second calculation, the spring

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