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Name: _Suden Sons Date:
Student Exploration: Determining a Spring Constant
Scab UIaHY: displacement, equiliium, Hooke's law, restoring force, slope, spring, spring
constant, weight
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
4. At the grocery store, you put a watermelon on a produce scale.
This causes the Spring to stretch as shown. How far will the
spring stretch if you add another watermelon of equal mass?
The Sorina win Seich 40 Zoorl
2. What property allows springs to be used in scales? Hoowe'S
laws states trek force. to externa ce cyying ot
wy Scale Ungar, with
ertin dictawce resvect +
teat distance, THe areater We Feree TE mere He
mens wil Stern
m $e we WW)
Gizmo Warm-up Be bance Of one.
When you put a grapefruit on'a grocer’s scale, . scale may 2:
bounce up and down a bit, but eventually it settles into an
caulistia state. At this point, the force pulling the spring down is, 2,
‘equal to the restoring fores pulling the spring up. You can explore ;
these forces in the Determining a Spring Constant Gizmo™.
To begin, check that Spring 1 is chosen and nothing is hanging
from the spring.
1. What is the level of the bottom of the spring? S Cm
2. Place the scale on the bottom of the spring, The scale has a mass of 20 grams. Wait for the
spring to stop moving. At this point it has reached equilibrium.
‘A. What is the level of the spring now?
B. How much did the spring stretch? 0. 6Scra This is the displacement of the spring.
3. Place mass C (20 grams) on the scale. What is the level of the spring? _G-> cm
What is the displacement of the spring? _\- 3 crn
Beiemos
Scanned with CamScannerActivity: Get the Gizmo ready:
The spring ‘+ Remove all weights from Spring 1.
constant + Select the TABLE tab.
Question: How is the displacement of a spring related to the welght It bears?
41. Predict: In this activity, you will create a graph of the displacement vs. the weight on the
spring. What do you think this graph will look like?
DT pcecck that dhe ary wit be linear, the
Sering wit exten ingarty ac wera 1$ added.
2, Calculate: Place the 20-g scale on the spring.
‘A. Convert the mass of the scale in grams to kilograms by dividing by 1,000.
‘What is the mass of the scale inkg?_O. 02 Ka.
B. To find the WEIGHE of the scale, multiply the mass (in kg) by gravitational
acceleration, 9.81 m/s*. (Note: The units for weight are kg-m/s”, or newtons (N)).
‘Wheat is the weight of the scale in newtons?_©. 19.6 W
3. Gather data: Record the position and displacement for each mass on the spring. Click
Record data each time the spring reaches equilibrium. (Note: You will have to figure out
which combination of objects adds up to each of the masses listed in the table.)
Mass (a) Mass (kg) | Weight (N) | Position (cm) | Displacement (cm)
og 0. 0ov4 | 0-00N 5.90 om o.00cm
209 ©-02"9. | 6.20N 5.650 0.65 0m
409 ©. 04K 6.3) Cre 1. Stem
80g o-og nd | G73N 7.62 tm 2.67em
1009 [Link] KA | O-4eN 8.27 cr 3.27cm
4. Analyze: What patterns do you notice in your data? (Hint: What happens to the
displacement when the weight is doubled?)
Te disgrace ment i2 Provorrional to the mess, when the
bles. When mass
wealt doubles Whe AMsuigcement Glsq dow
ie _muttipied by Wlee Ine disviacement 73 alse multipived by
Anree-
(Activity continued on next page)
Beizmos
Scanned with CamScannerActivity (continued from previous page)
5. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. What do you notice? _T_ ors << 4 the
Grion is Vinegar. (forre and strerch pC sering iwereasina Iinenrty)
6. Measure: Tum on Show line. The S1Opa of the line (rise divided by run) is given by the
value of m. Adjust the m slider until the line is aligned with all four points on your graph.
What is the slope of the line? ©. N/om
7. Calculate: On your data table on the previous page, multiply each displacement value by the
slope of the line recorded above. What do you notice? The Stove Of oc Vine
mus
Seeing
8. Infer: The slope of the line is a measure of the stiffness of the spring. The greater the slope
is, the stiffer the spring because it indicates that more force is required to stretch the spring
given amount. The slope of the line is called the Spring constant and given the symbol k.
Based on your data, create an equation that relates the force on the spring (F), the
displacement (x), and the spring constant (k).
Fhe
This relationship is known as HGOKe’s law. Usually, Hooke's law is written for the restoring
force (Fp) rather than the force on the spring. Because the spring is in equilibrium, the
restoring force is equal to the negative of the force that is pulling the spring.
9. Apply: How far will Spring 4 stretch with a mass of 70 grams? _2.-3C1r~
Use the Gizmo to check your answer. Show your work below.
sO, Fe he
Frome
F = (o-07#g)C4- eis)
Fe 0-6967N Ke 2.3m
10. Practice: Find the spring constant for each of the other springs in the Gizmo. Show your
work on a separate sheet of paper.
Spring 2: k 0-26 Nim
Spring 3:k=__O-42 Nfs
Spring 4:k=___©- 30 N/om
Dcizmos
Scanned with CamScannerfor Question
Sering 3:
Scanned with CamScanner