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BENDING OF BEAM

Aim of the Experiment :

To determine the Young's modulus (Y) of a given material (steel) by bending of beam.

Apparatus Required:

1. Steel beam 2. Spherometer

3. Slotted weights (500gm. each) 4. Hanger

5. Vernier calliper 6. A dry cell (battery)

7. Plug key 8. LED bulb

9. Rheostat
Theory:

If a beam of breadth ‘b’ and thickness ‘d’ is placed horizontally on two knife-edges
separated by a distance ‘l’ and a load of mass ‘M’ is applied at the mid point of the beam
then it produces a depression ‘  ’. Then Young’s Modulus ‘Y’ of the material of the beam is
given by.

Mgl 3  gl 3   M 
Y   
4bd 3  4bd 3     (working formula)

Where
M - Load suspended on the beam at the middle (in gram)
g - Acceleration due to gravity at the place of observation (cm/s 2)
l - Length of the beam between the two knife edges fixed on the table (in cm)
b - Breadth of the beam (in cm)
d - Thickness of the beam (in cm)
 - Depression of the beam at the middle(in cm)
 Figure 1. Schematic diagram of Bending of Beam

Procedure :
i) With the help of vernier calliper, measure the thickness of the beam at different
places and take the mean, this gives ‘d’.
ii) Measure the breadth of the beam at different places with the help of vernier calliper
and take the mean, this gives ‘b’.
iii) Place the beam on the knife edges symmetrically and adjust the hanger at the
middle of the beam.
iv) Measure the distance between the two knife edges with a meter scale, this gives ‘l’.
v) Determine the pitch and least count of the spherometer. When the beam is
unloaded, rotate the spherometer, till its screw just touches the hanger and the
bulbjust glows. Note the reading of the spherometer.
vi) Place a 500gm weight in the hanger at the middle. The beam will bend downward
and the contact with the spherometer will break. Then the spherometer is to be
rotated till the LED again just glows. Note the reading of the spherometer there. The
difference between the two readings gives the depression in the beam for 500gm. In
this way go on loading the beam adding each time 500gm and note the
corresponding spherometer reading each time, till the maximum permissible load is
applied.
vii) Now gradually decrease the load in steps (500gm each time). The beam will come
upward and the contact will not break, so that the bulb will continue to glow. Rotate
the spherometer in anti clockwise direction till the glowing bulb turned off. Note the
spherometer reading at each position.
 Tabulation(I) : Measurement of thickness of the beam (d)

L.C. = 0.01cm (Vernier calliper)

No. of Obs. MSR VC VSR = (VC×LC) d = (MSR + VSR) in cm Mean 'd' in cm

in cm in cm

Thickness of the beam (d) = ....................................... cm

Tabulation (II) : Measurement of breadth of the beam (b)

L.C. = 0.01cm (Vernier calliper)

No. of Obs. MSR VC VSR = (VC×LC) b = (MSR + VSR) in cm Mean 'b' in cm

in cm in cm

Breadth of the beam (b) = ....................................... cm.

Tabulation (III) : Measurement of depression 'δ'
Pitch = 0.1 cm, L.C = 0.001 cm (spherometer)
Length between the knife edges (l) = ........................................ cm

No. of Obs. Load ( Spherometer Reading Depression(δ)

M) in =

gms
Load increasing Load decreasing
a  b  2 LC
(cm)
I N F (I ~ F) X= (I~F) + (N×100) a I N F (F ~ I) Y = (F~I) + (N×100) b

1 0

2 500

3 1000

4 1500

5 2000

6 2500

Clockwise I~F = I - F, if I > F Anti-clockwise F~I = F - I, if F > I

= (I+100) - F, if I < F = (F+100) - I, if F < I
Graph:
A graph is plotted taking load 'M' in grams along X-axis and depression 'δ' in
cm along Y-axis.

Slope = AB/BC
= δ/M

1/Slope = M/δ

Calculation :

The Young’s Modulus of the material of the beam is

Mgl 3  gl 3   M 
Y   
4bd 3  4bd 3    
 gl 3   1 
  
3  

 4bd   Slope 
= .......... dyne/cm2

Comparing with the standard value, the percentage of error can be calculated
as follows.
standard value  observed value
% of error  100  _____ %
standard value

Conclusion:

The Young’s modulus of the material of the beam is found to be .................

dyne/cm2 with .....…… % of error.
Prepared by Dr. S. K. Sahoo
Edited by Dr. P. Parida