Lab 21: Mass Spring Oscillation

In this lab, we are trying to find the factors that affect the period of oscillation of a spring system.

There are eight groups all of which will be conducting the same experiment. However, each group will have a different spring which has a different k. Every group will find the period of the spring and the spring constant by using a motion sensor and LoggerPro, share the data of what they have found. After that, we are going to calculate the period of the spring given to us with different masses and try to discover a relationship between the mass and the period for all groups.

The top image shows all group's data.

The middle shows the data table.

The bottom shows the graph of the oscillation of the spring.

The top image is our calculations for the period and spring constant.

The middle picture shows the data table we used to calculate the spring constant.

The bottom image shows the value of the period and spring constant of every group. 

The top image shows a graph of the mass vs the period and was used to compare to our calculated values.

The picture below shows our actual values.

Our period vs mass graph was quite accurate. The experimental value was 1.25m^0.5, and from the actual value we got was 1.14m^0.4475

Unfortunately, for our period vs spring constant graph, it was not as accurate.

The experimental value was 2.07k^-0.5, and the actual value we got was 2.66k^-0.5