Rubber Band Partners: Albert E, Marie C 1/1/1918

Pre-lab Questions
1. The Force Equation for spring is F=-kx known as Hooke’s Law
2. The force is negative because the rubber band is applying a restoring force

Aim: To model the elastic properties of a rubber band as that of a light spring.
Rubber band Rubber band

Force versus extension for Rubber band

Data:
started to broke
mass (+/- length of band Weight change colour
2g) 3.5 (+/-1mm) Force Extension
0 3
Force (+/-0.02N)

*50 0 0
502.5 55 0.49 5
100 2 61 0.98 11
1501.5 72 1.47 22
200 1 88 1.96 38
2500.5 105 2.45 55
300 0 0 20 14940 602.94 80 99
100 120
extension(+/-2mm)
Analysis:
Extension = length-equilibrium length(*)
Applied Force = mg = mass(kg) * 9.8

We decided not to include any further data points above a weight of 1.5N due to data diverging from linear
relationship.
k= rise/run = 1N/0.013m = 76.9 N/m

% uncertainty of the force (largest) which was = 2/50*100 = 4%, 4% of k = 3.1 N/m,
so final k = 76.9±3.1 N/m

Evaluation:
This is a pretty large value for the error bounds which indicates that the rubber band can take lots of
force per extension of its length. Looking on the internet, similar rubber bands have a spring constant of around
80 N/m [1]. This is within the uncertainty of our results which means our value for k is valid and reasonable. It
is lower than expected.
After the first 3-4 points the graph was not linear at all. This also coincided when the rubber band
started to change colour. And at 300g, the rubber band completely broke! The change in colour may have
indicated that the rubber band was changing in its structure and therefore no longer obeying Hooke’s law.
The experiment could be improved by using smaller mass increments to get a better set of results
earlier on. This would give us more data in the linear region. Measuring the length of the band was also difficult
and could be improved by using a better hanging system as the data indicates we may have been
underestimating the extension length from the low value of k.

Reference: [1] www.rubberbandsRus.com