Experiment 205: Hooke’s Law

JAVEN, PAUL ADRIAN B.

Department of Physics
School of Civil Engineering and Geological Engineering
Mapua Institute of Technology
PHY11L A1 Group 4
pjaven@gmail.com

Abstract
More than 300 years ago, Robert Hooke identified a proportionality that has remained a
fundamental concept to physicists and engineers to this day. Though his "law" was established for
the case of springs alone, it has since been related to all materials of known surface area. The
relationship used most readily today is the direct proportionality between stress and strain.
Together, civil engineers, mechanical engineers and material scientists, carefully select structural
materials that are able to safely endure everyday stress while remaining in the elastic region of the
stress-strain curve, otherwise permanent deformation occurs. Architects who once chose stone for
its aesthetic appeal now choose steel for its long-term endurance. For biomedical engineers,
titanium is often the material of choice for its biocompatibility and more importantly, its capability
to withstand the tensile and compressive stress of the body's weight.
In our course, ideas of elasticity as well as stress and strain are used to determine strength of
materials that will be used on structures. Civil engineering makes use of a wide range of
engineering mechanics to design strong structures as well as other types of structures that meets
our job’s demand whether it needs a rigid foundation or a something that allows minimal
movement so that members will not yield to disasters such as earthquakes and storms.
Introduction
The purpose of this experiment is to study how forces affect objects not only in motion but also in
shape and size. Deformation occurs when a force acts on an object. The ability of an object to return
to its original shape and size is called elasticity. In this experiment, we will study the properties of
elasticity using a spring and Hooke’s Law. Hooke’s Law states that “Within the elastic limit of the
body, the deforming force is directly proportional to the elongation of the body”. In other words,
the amount compression or stretching is directly proportional to the applied force or deforming
force. Elasticity is the measure of the difficulty the object can be stretched or compressed. It is the
measure of “k” or the force constant.

An object is said to be more elastic when it restores itself precisely to its original shape and size.
However, all objects have elastic limits that depends upon the properties it is made of. In this
experiment, we are going to study the elastic properties of the spring, its force constant, and the
work done when it is stretched.
Methodology
A. Setting-up of the Equipment
1. Hang the spring from the notch on the support arm. See Figure 1.
2. Connect the stretch indicator to the bottom of the spring. Adjust the clamp on the
support rod until the indicator reading is aligned at exactly zero.

3. Connect the mass hanger to the bottom of the Stretch Indicator. See Figure 2.

B. Determining the Force Constant of the Spring

1. Place the first mass on the hanger.
2. Record the change in displacement of the spring and the weight of the hanging mass.
3. Compute the force constant of the spring using the equation

F = kx

4. Repeat steps 1-3 for another 3 trials and add 10g in each trial. Fill out Table 1A.
5. Determie the average value of the force constant.
6. Plot a force vs displacement graph.
7. Determine the slope of the line.
8. Calculate the percentage difference of the average value of the force constant and the
slope of the line.
9. Repeat procedure 1-8 using another spring. Fill out Table 1B.

C. Determining the Work Done on the Spring

1. Fill out Table 2. Using the data gathered in procedure B, compute for the total work
done in stretching the spring using the equation
 1
Ws = k ( x f 2−x o2)
2

where x f is the displacement in trial 4 of procedure B and x o = 0.

2. Determine the area under the graph of force vs displacement.

3. Compare the total work done and the area under the graph of force vs displacement.

Results and Discussion

Hooke’s law determines elasticity – the characteristics of solids to come back to its original form,
dimension or size when the deforming forces are released. This experiment also determines the
spring’s force constant, k. This is the factor of spring’s elasticity or rigidity. Higher force constants
equals more rigid spring. Rigidity is a materials to resist deforming forces; the opposite of
elasticity. Or in other terms, we can refer it as the spring’s stiffness. The Fdeforming needed to
compress/extend a spring is proportional to the body’s extension is explained by Hooke’s law. This
can help students understand and interpolate how the distance or stretch and the Fdeforming of the
spring is important in determining k. Another is to observe the relationship between Fdeforming and the
amount a spring stretches.
This experiment has two parts: parts IA for the 4N/m spring and part B for the 7N/m spring. Ideally,
the force constant in N/m that we are trying to get should be close to the value of the slope of the
line from the graph drawn. It was computed to be 5.5N/m and the average k was 5.7N/m. This
result gave us a %diff of 3.75% for part A. In part IB, we used the 8N/m spring, we obtained an
average force constant 8.54N/m. In comparison the the line’s slope, which was 8.91N/m, we had a
%difference of 4.24%. Part II is dealt with calculations using the formula (1/2)kx2. This is to be
compared with the area under a curve/line of this trial and ideally they should be of the same force
constant value. Table IA gave us a %difference of 1.16% and Table IB with 1.02%.

Answers to Guide Questions

1. What happens to the value of the force constant as you increase the force applied to the
spring?

Force increases even if the displacement and constant and K increases. But since it is not
possible for the displacement to be constant, we assume that as the force applied increases,
the displacement also increases, and K somehow remains constant.

2. Is Hooke’s Law applicable to bodies other than springs? Give an example.

It only applies to springs and elastic materials such as bands. According to Hooke’s law, it
only applies to the idea of ideal springs. Elastic materials such as rubber bands or any
other closely tensile fibers, this can only work in given certain limits, which is beyond the
force constant, K.

3. A spring stretches 0.20m to a force of 800N. How much work must be done when a 20kg
mass hangs vertically from the spring?

X = 0.20m F = kx
800 N
F = 800N k= = 4000N/m
0.20 m
 1
M=20kg Ws = k ( x f 2−x o2)
2
1 20(9.81)
Ws =? = ( 800 N )( x f 2 ) ; x f =¿ F = = 0.049m
2 k 4000
Ws = 4.802J

Conclusion

From the data we’ve gathered, we can say that the Wspring should be equal to the area under the graph
because it is the Fave times s(stretch of the spring; displacement). Know that this is not constant as it
is proportional with its displacement. Deformation of solids are caused by net stress and it also
depends with the center of gravitation and moment of inertia. The factors that affect the apparent
deformation are its stretch(displacement) and the spring constant, k. Also, the material type and the
strength of material can affect deformation or extension properties.

Recommendations
Possible sources of error are as follows: Using a faulty spring that is not standardly calibrated as
4N/m or 8N/m, letting the pan touch too much of the vertical caliber resulting to slanting. Hence,
incorrect readings, putting weights before zeroing the spring’s level on the platform., Not putting
the spring properly on the notch, mismatched units and error in calculation (syntax errors, wrong
formulas, petty algebraic errors), and not following the assigned weights per trial. We recommend
taking note of the following common yet frequent sources of error to maximize the accuracy and
precision of the experiment.

References
Reference from a book:
[1] Halliday, D., Resnick, R., & Walker, J. (2014). Principles of Physics 10 th ed. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley.
Reference from a website:
[2] Information from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/permot2.html
[3] Information from www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/van_cancer_lesson2
[5] Information from http://www.universetoday.com/55027/hookes-law/
[6] Information from http://www.engineersedge.com/material_science/hookes_law.htm
[7] Information from https://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2002spring/PHY251/Spring1.pdf
[8] Information from https://msstud2014.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/hookes-law-experiment/

Appendix
*see computations on the next page.
Graphs

Force(Y) vs Displacement(X) of First Spring

0.5
0.45 0.44
0.4
0.35 0.34
0.3
0.25 0.25
0.2
0.15 0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09

0.441−0.147 1 1
Slope of the line = =5.5 Area bounded = bh = ( 0.078)(0.441) =
0.078−0.025 2 2
0.0171

Force(Y) vs Displacement(X) of Second Spring

0.5
0.45 0.44
0.4
0.35 0.34
0.3
0.25 0.25
0.2
0.15 0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.04 0.04 0.05 0.05 0.06 0.06
 0.441−0.147 1 1
Slope of the line = =8.91 Area bounded = bh = ( 0.054)(0.441) =
0.054−0.0 17 2 2
0.0119