Name: Alicia Meyer

Date:

Practical Number:

Syllabus Objective:

Title: Hooke’s Law

Aim: To determine the spring constant of a spring

Theory: Hooke’s law is a law of mechanics and physics discovered by Robert Hooke. This theory of
elasticity says the extension of a spring Is proportional to the load applied to it. Many materials obey
this law if the load does not exceed the material’s elastic limit. Elastic limit is the maximum extent to
which a solid may be stretched without permanently alteration of size or shape. Elasticity is property
which enables a material to get back to its original shape after the removal of an applied force. A
spring is made by making a coil from a piece of material. To change the shape of the spring a force is
required, if the string is lengthened by stretching, the applied force id called the tensile force. If the
spring id shortened by pressing, the applied is called compressive force. extension is the increase in
length of the spring. The spring constant k is defined as force acting per unit extension. A factor that
can affect Hooke’s law experiment is the spring exceeding its elastic limit.

After setting up the apparatus the spring was hanged from the retort stand. The hanger was
attached directly to the bottom of the hanging spring and the position of the bottom of the mass
hanger was measured with a metre rule. The mass was hanged from the spring and the and the final
position of the mass hanger was recorded with the metre rule. The increase in length was calculated
in a result table. The procedure was repeated for the masses o.06kg to o.20kg, then a graph was
plotted force versus extension.

it is expected that force will be proportional to the extension. unless the limit elasticity is
exceeded.

Apparatus:

• Retort stand (1)

• Mass (0.5kg to 0.20kg)
• Spring (1)
• Mass hanger (1)
• Metre rule (1)

Method:

• The apparatus was assembled as shown in the diagram.

• The spring was hanged from the retort stand.
• The mass hanger was attached directly to the bottom of the hanging spring and the position
of the bottom of the mass hanger was recorded with a metre rule.
• The mass was hanged from the spring, then it was waited on to come to rest.
• The final position of the mass hanger was recorded with the use of the metre rule.
• The increase in length was calculated in a result table.
• The above steps were repeated with masses 0.06kg to 0.20kg.
• A graph was plotted, force versus extension.
Result:

Mass (kg) Force (N) Length after Extension (m)

extension
0.05 0.49 0.64 0.16
0.06 0.59 0.67 0.19
0.07 0.69 0.71 0.23
0.08 0.78 0.74 0.26
0.09 0.88 0.78 0.30
0.10 0.98 0.81 0.33
0.11 1.08 0.84 0.36
0.12 1.18 0.87 0.39
0.13 1.27 0.91 0.43
0.14 1.37 0.94 0.46
0.15 1.47 0.97 0.49
0.16 1.57 1.00 0.52
0.17 1.67 1.04 0.56
0.18 1.77 1.07 0.59
0.19 1.86 1.10 0.62
0.20 1.96 1.14 0.66

THE TABLE ABOVE SHOWS RESULTING OF HOOKE’S LAW EXPERIMENT.

Calculation:

F=Kx

K=F/x

0.49N/0.16m

=3.0625N𝑚−1

Discussion: During the experiment it was clearly seen that there is a relationship between force and
extension, that is, the extension directly proportional to the force applied to the spring. As a larger
mass was added to the spring, the tensile force caused the spring to extend a little more each time,
also because the spring had some amount of elasticity, it oscillated up and down after a mass was
added to it, the motion exhibited by the spring is known as simple harmonic motion/periodic
motion.

The relationship between extension and force did last, the limit of proportionality had not
exceeded, this can be seen on the graph, there is a straight line portion between forces 0.49 to 1.96
this did not affect the simple harmonic motion, thus the spring returned to its original shape after
the masses were removed and the spring was still considered to have an elastic deformation
continuing to follow Hooke’s.

Precaution:

• It was ensured that the spring was tightly attached to the clamp of the retort stand.
• Safety goggles were worn to prevent accidents that could occur during the experiment.
Source of error:

• the measurement from the metre rule might have been read incorrectly (parallax error).
• the accuracy of the masses could have caused an error.

Limitation:

• the experiment could have been limited if the spring had reached its elastic limit.

Conclusion: it can be concluded that the spring constant of the spring is 3.0625𝑁𝑚̇−1 .