IZMIR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

GENERAL PHYSICS Ⅰ
LABORATORY REPORT

EXPERIMENT 5:ELASTIC-KINETIC
ENERGY
Group Member Names:
-Berna CURAOĞLU 290211018
-Sedanur ÇOĞUL 290211007
Experiment Date: 15.11.2023

Laboratory Bench Number: 4

Purpose:
The objective of this experiment is to investigate the elastic behavior of a spring
through the application of Hook's law. According to Hook's law, the extension of a spring is
directly proportional to the applied force, which can be expressed mathematically as F = kx.
In this equation, F represents the applied force, k denotes the spring constant, and x signifies
the extension of the spring.When a spring is compressed or stretched, energy is stored by
performing work. In the absence of friction or any external forces acting on the glider, the
work done by the spring is equivalent to the kinetic energy of the object. The equipment
required for this experiment includes a Photogate timer, a glider airway system, a heavy mass
hanger, and a spring with a low spring constant. Additionally, we will assess any potential
errors that may occur during the experiment and measures to minimize these errors.

Data and Graph:

Hanging Mass Applied Force Spring Stretch

[kg] [N] [m]
0.005 0.049 0.022
0.010 0.098 0.047
0.015 0.147 0.088
0.020 0.196 0.125
0.025 0.245 0.257

Table 1.Force measurements data

Graph:
0.3

0.25
Gravitational Force[N]

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0.022 0.072 0.122 0.172 0.222
Spring Stretch[m]

y = 0.7896068*x + 0.06188039
Mass Stretch x t1 t2 t3 t(avg) V
[g] [m] [s] [s] [s] [s] [m/s]
190 0.05 0.071 0.071 0.071 0.071 0.140
190 0.08 0.045 0.046 0.047 0.046 0.217
190 0.11 0.034 0.034 0.034 0.034 0.294
190 0.13 0.029 0.029 0.029 0.029 0.344
190 0.17 0.022 0.022 0.022 0.022 0.454

Kglider Uspring %error

1.862 9.862 %136

4.473 2.524 %55
8.211 4.773 %52
0.011 6.667 %199
0.019 0.011 %53

Calculations:
mglider : Mass of Glider

mhanging: Mass of Hanging Object

L: Length of Card on the Glider

𝑘: Spring Constant

𝑡: Glider pass time from photogate

𝑉: Velocity for t
U spring: Spring Potential Energy

K glider: Kinetic Energy of the Glider

Used Formulas
L
V=
t

1 2
U spring = k x
2

1 2
K glider= m v
2

|U spring−K glider|
%error= x 100
[ U spring + K glider
2 ]

Discussion:
Berna CURAOĞLU:
The aim of the experiment was to investigate the relation between potential and kinetic
energy.Spring was used to observe potential energy. When the spring is stretched or
compressed, it is exposed to work and the spring is storing energy with this work. In the
theory we know that energy never disappears, it only changes the shape. In our case, we
observed the change of potential energy into kinetic energy. In order to perform the
experiment, the hanging object with some mass was attached to a glider, and glider itself was
attached to a spring. Obviously, if the hanging mass was increased, the stretch length of a
spring was also increased. The first step of the experiment was to find the unknown spring
constant. We knew that, if the system is in static equilibrium, the total force is equal to zero
and we used this principle tocalculate the spring constant (𝑚𝑔 = 𝑘𝑥) The relation between
Force and spring stretch is linear, because spring constant is not changing as can be
understood from its name. Using this relation and slope of the line, spring constant was found.
First step of the experiment involves all theinformation up to this point. Second step was
measuring speed and investigating relation between potential and kinetic energy. The glider
was released from different distances and velocity was measured and used in kinetic energy
calculations. Velocity values were measured for five different distances and we were said to
use average velocity for calculating kinetic energy. In calculations part of report it is shown
the percentage error when average and corresponding velocity values were used. Potential
energy is changing according to the spring stretch. And when spring is stretched more, the
velocity is also increasing, accordingly, the kinetic energy. That is why using the average
velocity leads to high errorsTo conclude, the relation between spring stretch and velocity is
observed and this observation is proving the relation between potential and kinetic energy.
The average velocity data could be erroneous because when we let go of the object, we may
have exerted additional force with our hands. A measurement error, such as measuring the
displacement incorrectly, may have also occurred.

Sedanur ÇOĞUL:
Using the spring in this experiment, we looked at the connection between kinetic and
potential energy. We came to the conclusion that the work needed to stretch and compress a
spring is potential energy, and that the kinetic energy contained in the spring can be
transmitted to an object.In Part A, we hung the masses (5,10,15,20, and 25) in order to
compute the spring's extension amount. The applied force-spring stretch graph was then
drawn, and its slope allowed us to determine the elastic constant, or k. In Part B, we
maintained a constant mass and used the photogate to determine the duration by pulling the
wing back and forth at stretch values (5,10,15, and 20). The same procedure was carried out
twice. The times t1 and t2 were noted. Using Δd and tavg, we computed Vavg. Then, we
used the Vavg values and k value we discovered in Part A to calculate kinetic and potential
energy. At the end, we determined the error for every stretch value. The range of error values
was 0.46% to 0.47%. These findings allow us to conclude that our experiment was accurate.
 0.3

0.25

0.2
Gravitational Force[N]

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0.022 0.072 0.122 0.172 0.222

Spring Stretch[m]