28th January 2022

Effect of change of applied force on the extension of the spring

this lab report will discuss the experiment investigating Hooke’s law by observing the effect
of exerted force on the extension of a spring. Through the relationship between the force
exerted and the extension of the spring, the spring constant can be calculated using Hooke’s
Law. The graph of the relationship between the two factors can also be used to find the
elastic potential energy using the equation PE = 1/2(kx^2). According to Hooke’s Law, the
extension of the force caused by the exerted force is proportional to the exerted force and
the equation of Hooke’s law is written as  Fₛ = kx (spring force = spring constant multiplied
by extension of the spring). k, the spring constant, “is a measure of the stiffness of a spring
up to its limit of proportionality or elastic limit.”1 During the experiment, different known
masses will be hung below the spring, pulling the spring downwards. This will be the
measure of force as mass is a factor of gravitational force based on Newton’s second law of
motion where force = mass multiplied by acceleration. In this case, the acceleration will be
the acceleration due to gravity (10m/s^2).

Research question: What is the effect of the force applied on the extension of the spring?

Hypothesis: it is predicted that as the force applied on the spring increases, the extension of
the spring also increases. The equation of Hooke’s law is written as  Fₛ = kx (spring force =
spring constant multiplied by extension of the spring). the spring constant depends on the
qualities of the specific spring and remains constant up to the limit of proportionality. If the
spring constant remains constant, the equation shows that the force exerted on the spring
would be proportional to the spring extension and has a linear relationship. If the spring
constant equals to 1, the force would equal to the spring extension. Hence, the increase of
force exerted would equal to the spring extension.

Variables:

type of variable variable method

The force applied on the spring would be the added
known mass multiplied by the acceleration due to
Force applied on gravity which is 10m/s^2. This will be measured using
independent the spring known masses of 50 grams.
 The extension of the spring would be the initial
length of the strength subtracted from the final length
 Extension of the of spring with force exerted. This will be measured
dependant spring using a ruler.
Controlled  Type of spring Different springs have different stiffness and elasticity
which affects the spring constant which affects the
equation of Hooke’s Law including force and
extension. The type of spring will be controlled by
using the same type of spring throughout the whole
experiment.
1
 The position of the ruler will be controlled by placing
the ruler completely vertical and perpendicular to the
table and placed at the clamp to measure the length
of the spring.
Position of the
ruler
    The cross-sectional area of the spring will be
Cross-sectional controlled throughout the experiment by using the
area of the spring same spring throughout the entire experiment.

Apparatus:
1 x retort stand
1 x clamp
1 x spring
2 x 30cm long ruler
1 x 0.05kg mass hanger
11 x 0.05kg masses

Method:
1) Place the ruler vertically next to the spring and measure the length of the spring
before any additional masses are placed
2) Attach the 0.05kg mass hanger with an additional 0.05kg mass (total of 0.1kg mass
added) and measure the length of the spring
3) Repeat step 2 with 2 0.05kg masses for 5 more times
4) Repeat step 1 to 3 for 2 more trials

Diagram:

Raw data table

 length of the spring (±0.05cm)
trial 1 trial 2 trial 3
Known mass (kg) initial final initial final initial final
0.1 17.6 19.6 17.6 19.1 17.6 19.0
0.2 17.6 22.0 17.6 21.4 17.6 21.5
0.3 17.6 25.0 17.6 24.3 17.6 24.3
0.4 17.6 27.5 17.6 27.5 17.6 27.4
0.5 17.6 30.5 17.6 30.0 17.6 30.0
0.6 17.6 33.3 17.6 34.0 17.6 33.0

Processed data tables

extension of the spring (±0.05cm)

mass of the weights (kg) trial 1 trial 2 trial 3
0.1 2.0 1.5 1.4
0.2 4.4 3.8 3.9
0.3 7.4 6.7 6.7
0.4 9.9 9.9 9.8
0.5 12.9 12.4 12.4
0.6 15.7 16.4 15.4

force applied to the average extension of the spring

spring (N) (cm) uncertainty (cm)
1 1.6 0.3
2 4.0 0.3
3 6.9 0.4
4 9.9 0.1
5 12.6 0.3
6 15.8 0.5

Calculations:
Below you will find the calculations for the weight of 100g pulling on the spring.
The initial length of the spring shown above is the length of the spring without any weights
pulling on the spring.
Force applied to the spring: mass x acceleration due to gravity
=0.1kg x 10m/s^2 (the acceleration of gravity of Earth) = 1N
Extension of the spring: final length – initial length = 19.6cm – 17.6cm = 2cm
Average extension of the spring: (2+1.5+1.4)/3 = 1.6cm
Uncertainty of the extension of the spring: (2-1.4)/2= 0.3cm

Graph Analysis
 force applied on the spring (N) vs average extension of the
spring (cm)
7

6
f(x) = 0.350240980768331 x + 0.534626362828132
force applied on the spring (N)

R² = 0.998687139447984
5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
average extension of the spring (cm)

As the graph is made to find the spring constant and the elastic potential energy stored in
the spring, the force applied on the spring was placed on the y-axis and the average
extension of the spring was placed on the x-axis.

The graph above shows that the correlation between the force applied on the spring and
the average extension is strong, positive, and linear for the data points studied. The linear
best-fit line has an equation of y = 0.3502x + 0.5346, which means that as the extension of
the spring increases by 1, the force exerted on the spring increases by 0.35. The R 2 value of
this graph is 0.9987, meaning that the best-fit line is a reliable representation of the data
which I have collected.

As the spring constant is the force exerted on the spring divided by the extension of the
spring, the spring constant would be the value of the gradient of the linear best-fit line
shown on the graph above. Hence, the spring constant is 0.35N/cm. as the equation of
elastic potential energy stored is PE = 1/2(kx^2) (k is the spring constant value and x is the
displacement/extension of the spring), the elastic potential energy stored in the spring
would be ½ (0.3502*15.8^2)=43.71J.

Conclusion and discussion

The aim of the experiment was to investigate the correlation between the force exerted on
the spring and the extension of the spring and using the processed data to find the spring
constant and the elastic potential energy of the spring. To find the correlation between the
force exerted on the spring and the extension of the spring, the length of the spring with
different known masses hung below, which were changed by a constant of 0.1kg, were
measured and recorded. After the data of the correlation between the masses hung on the
spring and the lengths of the spring was collected, the data was processed where the
masses were converted to weight and the initial length was subtracted from the final length
to find the extension of the spring. This data was used to determine the spring constant and
elastic potential energy stored.

The data which I have collected in this experiment strongly supports my hypothesis, since as
the mass hung on the spring increases, the length of the spring increases, therefore the
extension of the spring increases as the force applied on the spring increases and in my
hypothesis, I stated that as the force applied on the spring increases, the extension of the
spring also increases.

Although there were no limitations in the data analysis, there were some limitations of
human error in the experiment such as the inaccurate readings of the length of the spring
due to the misalignment of the ruler on the spring and short rulers placed one on top of
another vertically.

However, the uncertainty value in the raw data table were relatively small, meaning that the
trials had been controlled and the measurements were accurate to a large extent.
Furthermore, the R2 value was high with a value of 0.9987, meaning that the best-fit line of
the graph was a reliable representation of my data.

In spite of this, I could make some improvements in my methods of experiments to increase

the reliability of my scientific evidence.

Evaluation
Although the R2 value of the data collected was high and the uncertainty value was relatively
small, there were several limitations and human errors during the experiment which may
have affected the data collected.

Limitation Effect on data Suggested improvement

The misalignment of the
ruler and the spring
Multiple rulers place one
below the other due to
short length of the ruler,
insufficient to read the
length of the extended
spring
The spring bounced up and
down frequently as known
masses were added
This was a human error as
we may have placed the
ruler inaccurately which
would have led to the
wrong measurements of the
length of the spring
The rulers may have been
placed inaccurately with
one overlapping the other
and not placed completely
vertical and perpendicular
to the table which would
have led to inaccurate
measurements of the
lengths of the spring.
The moving spring may have
led to vastly different values
recorded of the lengths of
the spring.
We could use a clamp and
stand to keep the ruler in
place and accurately read
the length of the spring.
We could use a longer ruler
which is sufficient for the
measurement of the
extended length of the
spring.
We could wait 1 minute
before the measurements in
order to wait for the spring
to stop moving
Bibliography:
1) Williams, M. 2015. “What is Hooke’s Law”. Universe Today. 13 th February 2015.
Accessed on 4th February 2022. https://www.universetoday.com/55027/hookes-law/
2) Howard, D. 2021. “Elastic Potential Energy: Definition, formula, examples”.
Study.com. 21st October 2021. Accessed on 5th February 2022.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/elastic-potential-energy-definition-formula-
examples.html
3) BBC bitesize. N/A. “Forces and elasticity – AQA”. BBC Bitesize. Accessed on 5th
February 2022. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z9hk3k7/revision/2