PhysicsLabReport

SimpleHarmonicMotion

Boondaree
Natnapin
Sitanan
Panassaya

113
Daophiphatchai
Ketchaikosol
Teeracharoenchai
Waenkaew

(Pleng)
(Pin)
(Ploy)
(Pin)

Objectives
Measurethepositionandthevelocityasafunctionoftimeforanoscillatingmassand
springsystem.
Comparetheobservedmotionofamassandspringsystemtoamathematicalmodel
ofsimpleharmonicmotion.
Determinetheamplitude,period,andphaseconstantoftheobservedsimpleharmonic
motion.

Materials
LoggerPro
VernierMotionDetector
70g.and50g.masses
Ruler
WireBasket
TwistTies
Spring(aspringconstantofapproximately10N/m)
RingStand,Rod,andClamp

Procedure
1. Attachthespringtoahookconnectedtotheringstandandhangthemassfromthe
springasshowninthepicture.Securelyfastenthe50g.masstothespringandthe
springtotherod,usingtwisttiessothemasscannotfall.
2. ConnecttheMotionDetectortothe DIG/SONIC1channeloftheinterface.Ifthe
MotionDetectorhasaswitch,setittoNormal.
3. PlacetheMotionDetectoratleast30cm.belowthemass.Makesurethereareno
objectsnearthepathbetweenthedetectorandthemass,suchasatableedge.
4. Setupthesensorrateto50samples/sanddurationof5s.
5. makeapreliminaryruntomakesurethingaresetupcorrectly.Liftthemassupwarda
fewcentimetersandrelease.Themassshouldoscillatealongaverticallineonly.Click
collecttobegindatacollection.
6. After10s.,datacollectionwillstop.Thepositiongraphshouldshowacleansinusoidal
curve.Ifithasflatregionsorspikes,repositiontheMotionDetectorandtryagain.
7. ComparethepositiongraphtosketchedpredictioninthePreliminaryQuestions.How
arethegraphssimilar?Howarethedifferent?Also,comparethevelocitygraphto
prediction
8. Measuretheequilibriumpositionofthe50g.mass.Dothisbyallowingthemassto
hangfreeandatrest.Clickcollecttobegindatacollection.Aftercollectionstops,click
theStatisticsbuttontodeterminetheaveragedistancefromthedetector.Recordthis
distance(y
)inyourdatatable.
0
9. Nowliftthemassupwardabout2cm.andreleaseit.Themassshouldoscillatealong
averticallineonly.Clickcollecttocollectdata.Examinethegraphs.Thepatternyou
areobservingischaracteristicofsimpleharmonicmotion.
10. Usingthepositiongraph,measurethetimeintervalbetweenmaximumpositions.This
istheperiod,
T
,ofthemotion.Thefrequency,
f
,isthereciprocaloftheperiod,
f
=1/
T
.
Basedonperiodmeasurement,calculatethefrequency.Recordtheperiodand
frequencyofthismotioninyourdatatable.
11. Theamplitude,
A
,ofsimpleharmonicmotionisthemaximumdistancefromthe
equilibriumposition.Estimatevaluesfortheamplitudefromyourpositiongraph.Enter
thevaluesinyourdatatable.Ifyoudragthemousefromonepeaktoanotheryoucan
readthe
dx
timeinterval.
12. RepeatSteps811withthesame50gmass,movingwithalargeramplitude(5cm)
thaninthefirstrun.
13. Changethemassto70g.andrepeatsteps811.Useanamplitudeofabout5cm.
Keepagoodrunmadewiththis70g.massonthescreen.Youwilluseofforseveral
oftheanalysisquestions.

Results
DataTable
Run

Mass(g)

Y
(cm)
0

A
(cm)

T(s)

f
(Hz)

50g.

0.347cm.

0.023cm.

0.6s.

1.666Hz.

50g.

0.347cm.

0.023cm.

0.6s.

1.666Hz.

70g.

0.309cm.

0.057cm.

0.7s.

1.428Hz.

Y=A*sin(Bt+C)+D
A=
A
(Amplitude)
B=2( )(
f
)
C=2( )(
f
)(t
)
o
D=Y
0

Run1


Run2

Run3

Analysis
1. Viewthegraphsofthelastrunonthescreen.Comparethepositionvs.timeandthe
velocityvs.timegraphs.Howaretheythesame?Howaretheydifferent?
Bycomparingthegraphofpositionvs.timewiththegraphofvelocityvs.time.
Accordingtothelineplotting,thevelocitydeclinewhenthepositionofthe

2.

3.

4.

5.

objectrises.Thisshowthatwhenthespringcompressandstretchestothe
lowestandhighestpoint,itsvelocitychange.Thistwographshavesame
shapebutthedifferenceisthattheygointhedifferentdirection.
Whereisthemasswhenthevelocityiszero?Whereisthemasswhenthevelocityis
thegreatest?
Thevelocityiszerowhenitsontheequilibriumandthevelocityisthegreatest
whenitsonthehighestpointofthegraph.

Doesthefrequencyappeartodependontheamplitudeofthemotion?Doyouhave
enoughdatatodrawafirmconclusion?
Thefrequencydoesnotdependonamplitudeofthemotion.Fromourgraph
result,thefirstrunhasthefrequencytheequaltothesecondsrun,while
betweenbothofthemhavethedifferentamplitude.Thisshowsthatthe
frequencyofthewavedoesntdependontheamplitudeofthewave.
Doesthefrequencyappeartodependonthemassused?Diditchangemuchinyour
test?
Accordingtothegraph,the
frequencyofthewaverelytothemass.Theresult
showthatthefirsttworunthathavethesamemass,theresfrequencyarethe
same.Ontheotherhand,thethirdrunwhichhasthedifferentmass,its
frequencyisdifferentfromthefirsttworuns.Whenweincrease20g.ofmass
thefrequencydecreasefrom
1.666Hz.to1.428Hz..Themoremassgivemore
potentialenergytothespring,makeitabletocreatethewavewhichhavea
higherfrequency.
CurveFitfunction
Run1

Run2

Run3

6. Doesthemodelfitthedatawell?Howcanyoutell?
Themodelfitthedataquitewellbecauseoftheresultofthenumber.Theresult
ofourexperimentshowsthatitissimpleharmonicmotionbecauseitrelated
withitsequation
7. Predictwhatwouldhappentotheplotofthemodelifyoudoubledtheparameterfor
A
bysketchingboththecurrentmodelandthenewmodelwithdoubled
A.
Nowdouble
theparameterfor
A
inthemanualfitthedialogboxtocomparetoyourprediction.
Theamplitudewillincreasedoublefromatfirst.Howeverthegraphstillbestay
thesame.
8. Predicthowthemodelplotwouldchangeifyoudoubledfrequency,andthencheckby
modifyingthemodeldefinition.
Amplitudewillincreaseby2timesbecauseoftheparameter.

Conclusion
From this experiment, we can observe that the springmovesupanddown.Moreover,
we can observe from thegraph that the springs vibration is awave.Thevibrationalbehavior
of the spring depends on the wavelength and the frequency of the waves. There is also a
relationship between mass and amplitude. As the mass of the object that is hanged on the

spring becomes heavier, the amplitude increases.Thisalsomeansthatthereismoreenergy.

Besides, we can improve thisexperiment by being more careful andneed to make sure that
during the experiment, when the Vernier Motion Detector is active, there is nothing between
theVernierMotionDetectorandthemassthatishangedfromthespring.