Experiment: To find the Young’s modulus of the material of a given beam by bending using a

travelling microscope.

Apparatus used: a rectangular metallic bar of uniform thickness and breadth about one meter long,
two sharp knife edges mounted on heavy vertical supports, half kilogram slotted weights with hanger
weighing half kilogram stirrup provided with a hook at one side and a sharp pointer screw gauge, meter
rod.

Theory: Young’s modulus of the material will be

Y=mgl3/4ybd3

Where Y=young’s modulus

g = acceleration due to gravity

l = length of beam

y = depression in beam on hanging weight

b = breadth of the beam

d = thickness of the beam

Procedure:
1. First found the position of the C.G. of the by balancing it on a sharp wedge. Placed the bar
symmetrically on two knife edges K1 and K2 keeping them about 90cm apart. Saw that the bar is
perfectly horizontal with the help of spirit level.
2. Slid the stirrup into the bar and adjust its position such that the tip of needle attached to its
middle point lies vertically above the C.G. of the bar. Suspended the hanger of the stirrup.
3. Focused the microscope on the tip of the needle so that the tip of the inverted image of the
needle touches the horizontal cross wire of the eye piece. Noted the reading on the vertical
scale on the microscope.
4. Added a half kilogram weight gently on the hanger and focus the microscope again on the tip of
the needle by moving it with the help of tangent screw and tale the reading of the scale. kept on
increasing the load in steps of half kilogram and noting the corresponding readings after
focusing the microscope on the tip of the needle.
5. Then go on decreasing the load gradually in steps of half kilogram and took the reading as
before. For a given load there will be two readings of the scale one for the increasing load and
one for the decreasing.
6. Measured the distance between two knife edges by placing the meter rod edge wise after
removing the bar carefully without disturbing the positions of knife edges.
7. Measured the breadth of the bar with vernier caliper and noted the thickness with the screw
gauge all along the bar at several points.
8. Found the mean depression for 0.05Kg load either by calculation by drawing a graph between
loads and depression which will be a straight line passing through the origin.
Observation:
Mean breadth of the bar with vernier caliper =2.4cm

Mean thickness of the bar with screw gauge = 0.20cm

Mean distance between two knife edges = 90cm

S. Weight added to Microscope reading Depression for 0.05Kg

No. the hanger in Kg Load Load decreasing mean
increasing
1 0 5.612 5.620 5.616
2 0.05 5.530 5.520 5.525 0.091
3 0.10 5.400 5.414 5.407 0.118
4 0.15 5.303 5.305 5.304 0.103
5 0.20 5.255 5.259 5.257 0.047
6 0.25 5.177 5.167 5.172 0.085
7 0.30 5.100 5.095 5.098 0.074
Mean depression = 0.086cm

Result:
Young’s modulus = 5.408*1011 N/m2

Precautions:
1. The supports for the knife edges should be rigid and heavy. The knife edges should be sharp and
rigid.
2. Knife edges should be placed symmetrical to each other and at equal distance form C.G.
3. The load should be placed and removed gently without disturbing the C.G.
4. The load should not be increased beyond the elastic limit otherwise a permanent ‘set’ occurs
making the beam permanently deformed.
5. As the thickness in calculations is cubed and also small it should be measured accurately at
several points along the length.
6. The stirrup should be so placed that the loading and unloading is at the C.G. of the bar. Also it
should be placed parallel to the knife edges.