Ac vity 5.

1 Inves ga ng springs

Activity 5.1
Use weights to stretch a spring, and then plot a
graph to show the pattern of your results.

You will need:

• a steel spring
• clamp and stand
• ruler
• 100 g masses and hanger

Method
1 Select a spring.
2 Fix the upper end of the spring rigidly in a clamp.

Cambridge O Level Physics © Cambridge University Press 2012 Chapter 5: Activity sheet 1
3 Clamp a ruler next to the spring so that you can measure the
complete length of the spring.

4 Measure the unextended length of the spring.

5 Prepare a table for your results (copy the one below, but with
more rows). Record your results in your table as you go along.
6 Attach a weight hanger to the lower end of the spring. Measure
its new length.
7 Carefully add weights to the hanger, one at a time, measuring
the length of the spring each time.
8 Once you have a complete set of results, calculate the values of
the extension of the spring.
9 Plot a graph of extension (y-axis) against load (x-axis) and
comment on its shape.

Load / N Length / mm Extension / mm

0.0 0

Cambridge O Level Physics © Cambridge University Press 2012 Chapter 5: Activity sheet 2
Ac vity 5.3 Pressure experiments

Activity 5.3
Try out some simple experiments to explore the
idea of pressure.

What conclusions can you draw from each of these experiments?

Measuring gas pressure

You will need:

• U-shaped manometer tube, half-filled with coloured water
• rubber tubing to connect to gas supply
• ruler

manometer

from gas supply

coloured water

Cambridge O Level Physics © Cambridge University Press 2012 Chapter 5: Activity sheet 3
Use a manometer to measure the pressure of the laboratory gas
supply. Connect the manometer to the gas supply and open the
gas tap. Measure the difference in levels, h. The pressure p of the
gas supply can be calculated using the equation p = hρg, as given on
page 54. (Note that this is the pressure above atmospheric pressure.)

The effect of atmospheric pressure

You will need:

• tin can with stopper
• water
• Bunsen burner and tripod

steam escaping

stopper
metal can

steam
vacuum
water
steam
condensing

Put about 1 cm of water in the can. Boil the water until there is
lots of steam in the can and you can be sure that most of the air
in the can has been expelled. Turn off the heat. Put the stopper on
the can. Wait for the can to collapse under atmospheric pressure.
When the water in the can boils, the steam drives out all of the
air. When the steam condenses back to water, there is a vacuum
inside the can.

Cambridge O Level Physics © Cambridge University Press 2012 Chapter 5: Activity sheet 4
Pressure and depth

You will need:

• tall can with holes punctured
• supply of water
• bowl to catch water

water supply

tall can

bowl to
catch water

Cover up the holes in the can as you fill it with water. Uncover the
holes and catch the water as it comes out.
This is most impressive if you can adjust the water supply to keep
the level in the can topped up.

Cambridge O Level Physics © Cambridge University Press 2012 Chapter 5: Activity sheet 5