Spring Constants & Periods
By varying the mass placed on a spring, the period of
oscillation can be changed. When multiple data sets are collected
and plotted, the spring constant can be determined.
Before data was collected, the minimum and maximum masses were
determined by visually watching the harmonic motion. For the
minimum, a mass was chosen such that the resulting simple harmonic
motion had an appreciable amplitude without significant dampening
over ten periods. For the maximum, the mass was...