UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY JAMAICA

Faculty of Engineering and Computing

School of Engineering

_______________________________________________________________________________________

ENGINEERING PHYSICS I (PHS1005)

EXPT.6: SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION

Laboratory Report

Date/Time Performed: October 27, 2023 @8:00am – 11:00am

Date Submitted: October 30, 2023

Submitted by: Garfield Kerr & Khavar Thompson

ID No.: 2300448 & 2305015

Course Number & Name: (PHS1005) Engineering Physics 1

Lab Supervisor: Ms. R. Watson

[ ___ /___pts]

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Aim
• Demonstrate SHM

• Measure the elastic constant of a spiral spring.

• Measure the mass of a Spiral Spring.

Apparatus

As outlined in the BEng_manual.pdf page 35

Diagram

As outlined in the BEng_manual.pdf page 35

Method

As outlined in the BEng_manual.pdf page 37

Data Table
Mass, Time Trial 1, Time Average Time, Period, Period Squared,
m (g) t1/(s) Trial 2, tavg/(s) T/(s) T2/(s2)
t2/(s)
100 6.93 6.56 6.75 0.450 0.203
200 8.38 8.36 8.37 0.558 0.311
300 10.24 10.35 10.30 0.687 0.472
400 11.83 11.94 11.89 0.792 0.627
500 13.34 13.19 13.27 0.884 0.781
600 14.30 14.22 14.26 0.950 0.903

Table Showing The Time Taken For A Variation Of Masses To Complete 15 Oscillations

Graph
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 Graph Showing Period Squared Against Mass

Calculations
Rearranging the Final Equation for Period

Page | 3
 √ √
m+ ms m+ ms Y = T2
T =2 π , where: T =2 π 2
k k 4π
s=
T = period k
m = mass of weights 2 2
4 π ms x=m
ms = mass of spring ⸫ T 2= 4 π m+ 2
4 π ms
k k c=
k = spring constant k

Calculating the gradient

y 2− y 1
Gradient = s =
x 2−x 1
.740−.220
=
0.430−0.120
0.52
= = 1.68 s2/Kg
0.31

Calculating k
2
4π
s=
k
2
4π
k=
s
2
4π
= = 23.50 Kg/s2
1.68

Calculating ms
2
4 π ms
c= , c = y-intercept
k
ck
ms = 2
4π
0.050 ×23.50
= 2 = 0.030 Kg
4π

Page | 4
Calculating the error in the Slope
∆ slope
slope
=±
y (
∆ y ∆x
+
x )

¿± ( 0.700
0.01 10
+
500 )

¿ ± ( 0.02+0.01 ) = ± 0.03
∆ slope
∆ slope= × slope
slope
=0.03 ×1.68
= ±0.06 s2/Kg

Calculating the error in k

2
4π
k= , the numerator is a constant, therefore no error
s

⸫ ∆ k=± ( ∆ss )× k
= (
1.68 )
0.0 6
×23.50

=0.83 Kg/s2
Calculating the error in ms
ck
ms = 2 , the denominator is a constant, therefore no error
4π

⸫ ∆ ms=± ( ∆cc + ∆kk )× m s

=± ( 0.005
.050 23.50 )
+
0.70
×0.30

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 = 0.039 Kg

Discussion
In this lab we measured time as mass increased, from the table we can infer that mass is

proportional to time. The proportionality in the table can be seen as when mass increases time

increases as well. This was further solidified in the graph of as it was linear which shows

proportionality. However, we cannot say it was directly proportional as the slope did not pass

through the origin. From plotting the graph and finding the gradient our task was to calculate the

values of k and ms and their respective errors. The spring constant (k) was calculated to be (23.50

± 0.83) Kg/s2. The effective mass of the spring (ms) was calculated to be (0.030 ± 0.039) Kg, the

measured mass of the spring is 0.005 kg, the effective mass of the spring is equal to one third of

its actual mass, meaning the calculated value has great error as it is not comparable to the

measured mass. The calculated value of the spring it was out of range from the measured value

which means that there were some human errors involved in the lab. These may include the

counting of each oscillation of the spring, based on the speed of the oscillation it may have been

moving too fast, Also the displacement of the system may have been too large this causing the

mass and spring system the wobble and not oscillate properly affecting the counting of

oscillations. The assumption of the spring behaving linearly according to Hooke's law might not

hold true under large displacements. The spring's stiffness may change, affecting the accuracy of

the calculated spring constant.

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