Determining the Effect of Increasing Force on the Displacement of Springs

Abstract
This experiment was done to determine the material properties of three different springs. It
is predicted that as force is applied to the springs the displacement will increase
proportionally. This is based on the researched hypotheses, Hooke’s Law states that the
restoring force acting on an object is proportional to the negative of the displacement of the
object. In the experiment force will be added to the three springs and the displacement of
the springs will be recorded and plotted allowing a value for the spring constant to be
calculated. The major findings from this laboratory were the spring constants (k) of spring
one, two and three. The average k for; s1, k = 1.0875, s2, k = 0.264, s3, k = 0.382. From the
data it can be concluded that spring two and then three have lower spring constants
allowing them to extend further for the same force applied as spring one which has a larger
spring constant.

Introduction
Extension of a material is the focus of this investigation. Hooke’s Law, the key concept
underlying this major concept, is defined as (Matt Williams) (2015) “a principle of physics
that states
that the that the force needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance is
proportional to that distance” (Universe Today). Hooke’s Law was established in 1660 by
Robert Hooke and he identified, (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica) (1998)“Elastic
behaviour
of solids according to Hooke’s law can be explained by the fact that small displacements of
their constituent molecules, atoms, or ions from normal positions is also proportional to the
force that causes the displacement.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Definitions
Displacement: The act of movie something from its place or position.
Mass: A large body of matter with no definite shape
Spring Constant (k): A characteristic of a spring which is defined as the ratio of
the force affecting the spring to the displacement caused by it.
Elastic: Able to resume its normal shape spontaneously after being stretched or
compressed.
Plastic Deformation: Plastic deformation is a process in which permanent deformation is
caused by a sufficient load.
Purpose
The purpose of this laboratory experiment is to find the values of the spring constant for
each spring and compare them.

Materials
Hooke’s Law apparatus includes: Figure.1
 Hook on pole
 Measuring ruler in mm
 3 Springs
 90g mass set with increments of 10g
 Straight wire marker
Set up as shown in Fig.1.

Procedures

 We attached a spring to pre-built Hooke’s Law apparatus as shown in Fig.1.

 Then place the mass holder on the spring and record the initial point where the wire
marker meets the ruler in mm and record as m0, x0.
 Next we added 10g weight slot to the mass set then find the new point of the marker
on the ruler and calculate the displacement of the springs from the initial point and
record as m1 and x1.
 Continuing, we then added the 10g mass slots to the mass set measuring the
displacement each time and recorded the increase in displacement from x0 and the
increase in mass from m0. We stopped once we reached x9 where the mass added
should be 90g, m9.
 Be weary of the amount of mass on the springs as they can break and cause harm if
there is too much weight.
 Then we repeated the previous steps for the remaining two springs again recording
the displacement and mass in order to find the extension and force to fully analyse
our data.
 After completing the experiment for all three springs we decided to take readings
again as we had time, this will allow us to be able to identify any outliers more easily.
Results

Table.1

As the mass increases on spring one, test one

as shown in Table.1 the displacement
increases by 78mm from 0g to 90g. The
extension of the spring is linear after the first
mass is added and averages at 9.63mm every
10g added from m2 (20g).

Figure.2
As shown in Figure.2; spring one, test one
follows a linear trend. All the points seem to
correlate with an equal increase in Repeating the experiment again for spring
Table.3
displacement as force increases on the spring one we can identify in Table.2 that the spring
apart from at (0,0). The equation of the acts similarly with an average extension of
trendline is y = 923.61x - 5.8727. The trendline In spring two shown in Table.3 there is a lack
9.13mm after the first mass is added,
goes very close to 0, passing the y-axis at - of data due to the apparatus, however from
reaching a displacement of 75mm.
5.87x10-3m. what data there is we can identify there is a
large increase in displacement for every
mass added and reaching a displacement of
Table.2 108mm after only 30g have been added.
Figure.3

In Figure.3 again we see spring one has a Figure.4

Figure.4 shows spring two starts to have a
linear trend, this time with a trendline of linear trend on the graph, however there is a
y = 915.58x - 5.0182.
lackThe repeated
of data making experiment for spring
the trendline less 2 also
has a large
trustworthy and lack of data
harder as showany
to identify in Table.4.
FromThe
outliers. Table.4 we see
trendline is that again there
y = 3761.5x - 7.1. is a
large extension between added masses for
Table.5 spring two reaching a displacement of
111mm by 30g.
Table.5 shows the results for spring three,
test one. Past 60g the results are not
applicable due to the apparatus. However
Figure.6
there is a wide range of data still and we can
Repeating spring two the graph in see Figure.5
a clear steady extension of 28.6mm
shows a trendline of y = 3812.4x - 3.6. The
between 20g and 60g. There is a total
The graph in Figure.6 lays out the 7 points of
-3.6x10 -3m.
trendline passes very close to zero at displacement of 148mm at mass 60g.
data resulting in a clear trendline of
The trendline projects that the displacement
y = 2668.6x - 13.821.would
The trendline projects
reach about that at 0.09N.
325mm
at 0.09N of force the displacement would have
reached near 225mm.
Table.4

Figure.5

Table.6
Coclusion
This laboratory is in order to find the material properties of three different springs and to
give an estimate fore the value of the spring constant, k of each spring. To find these you
attatch each spring to a Hooke’s Law appartus as shown in Figure.1 and then add mass to
the springs taking readings as you go. Once all data is taken plot Force against Displacement
for each experiment and plot a trendline. The spring constant can be found by finding the
inverse of the gradient of the trendline as long as displacement has been converted to m.
The experiment did achieve its objectives in allowing us to understand the material
properties of the springs and thus find k.

Data Analysis

Table.7

Looking at the data on the graphs and

calculations in Table.7 we can see that
Spring One has a spring constant
around 1.083 and 1.092. Its results
can be considered accurate as it’s
Y-intercept is so close to zero, as well
as precise as there is only a 0.9x10-3
difference in the Y-intercept in both
experiments on Spring One.
Spring Two can be seen to have a spring constant near 0.266 and 0.262. The experiment can
be considered accurate as the Y-intercept is very close to 0. However due to the lack of data
while taking the readings because the equipment wouldn’t allow the spring to extend past a
point and be able to read the data accurately we can see that the resaults are less precise as
than the other experiments as the difference betweent the Y-intercepts is -3.5x10 -3. In
Spring Three we see a spring constant around 0.375 and 0.389. We can identify that the
resaults are precise as the difference between the Y-intercept is only -1.2x10 -3, however this
is not as precise as spring one and this may be due to a few data point missing again due to
the apparatus provided. Spring Three is also less accurate than the other springs with a
Y-intercept around -13.6x10-3 and -12.4x10-3. This is visible on the graphs in Figure.6 and
Figure.7 as the point at 0,0 clearly brings up the trendline from the other points. We are
unsure for why there is this inaccuracy it may be due to human error.

Future Research
The resaults for the experiment are important in real world situations as all building
materials should be thorughly tested to ensure their material properties are ideal for their
use in a system. An example of this would be a beam on a bridge or a componant in a plane
and how it may extend under force and in certain places this may be an undesired property,
or that it may extend past the elastic region causeing plastic deformation and this will cause
wear and tear leading for componants to be replaced.
To improve on the experiment completed in my lab I would re-design the apparatus given to
us to ensure there is enough space for the springs to fully stretch and be able to accurately
read the resaults as this hindered the resaults of spring two and three.
My experiment raises questions about how different materials have different spring
constants and how this can be applied to human tissue and can possibly be used to identify
cancerous tissue from healty tissue. It would be interestion to test this under a new title,
‘Determining the Effect of Force applied to Cancerous and Non-Cancerous Human Tissue’
and to hypothesise that they have different spring constants allowing cacerous tissue to be
identified by stretching the tissue.
Literature and Images Cited
Online Articles on World Wide Web:
One author Matt Williams. (2015) What is Hooke’s Law? Universe Today
Fifteen authors Adam Augustyn, Patricia Bauer, Brian Duignan, Alison Eldridge, Erik
Gregersen, J.E. Luebering, Amy McKenna, Melissa Petruzzello, John P. Rafferty, Michael
Ray, Kara Rogers, Amy Tikkanen, Jeff Wallenfeldt, Adam Zeidan, and Alicja Zelazko.
(1998) Hooke’s Law. Encyclopaedia Britannica

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