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Spring Mass System Experiment Guide

This document describes an experiment to verify the theory of a simple mass-spring system and estimate the stiffness factor (k) of a spring. It provides background on springs, defining spring constant as the ratio of force to displacement. It describes attaching a mass to a horizontal spring, where the spring's restoring force (f) is proportional to displacement (x) from equilibrium according to Hooke's law. The differential equation for this simple harmonic oscillator is presented, with its solution showing the displacement oscillates between -a and a with a repetitive period that allows calculating the frequency and angular frequency of the motion.

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Muhammad Suleman
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168 views3 pages

Spring Mass System Experiment Guide

This document describes an experiment to verify the theory of a simple mass-spring system and estimate the stiffness factor (k) of a spring. It provides background on springs, defining spring constant as the ratio of force to displacement. It describes attaching a mass to a horizontal spring, where the spring's restoring force (f) is proportional to displacement (x) from equilibrium according to Hooke's law. The differential equation for this simple harmonic oscillator is presented, with its solution showing the displacement oscillates between -a and a with a repetitive period that allows calculating the frequency and angular frequency of the motion.

Uploaded by

Muhammad Suleman
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Experiment No.

Reg.

No. 11-ME-77

Spring Mass System


Aim of the experiment
Verification of simple mass-spring system theory
Estimation of stiffness factor k for a spring

Springs
Springs are elastic bodies (generally metal) that can be twisted, pulled, or
stretched by some force. They can return to their original shape when the
force is released. In other words it is also termed as a resilient member.

Spring Constant
A characteristic of a spring which is defined as the ratio of the force affecting
the springs the displacement caused by it.

Mass on a spring
Helical or coil springs are commonly used in wide variety of mechanical
systems. Their basic work is to produce a force which is proportional to the
deflection. Consider a compact mass (m) that slides over a frictionless horizontal surface.
Suppose that the mass is attached to one end of a light horizontal spring whose other end is
anchored in an immovable wall. At time t, let x(t) be the extension of the spring that is, the
difference between the spring's actual length and its un stretched length.

If the system is disturbed from its equilibrium state then the mass experiences a horizontal force
(1)
given by Hooke's law,

Experiment No.3

Reg.

No. 11-ME-77

Here, k is the spring constant of the spring. The negative sign in the preceding expression
indicates that f(x) is a restoring force. The magnitude of this restoring force is directly
proportional to the displacement of the mass from its equilibrium position. Hooke's law only
holds for relatively small spring extensions. Hence, the displacement of the mass from its
equilibrium position cannot be made too large, otherwise Equation (1) ceases to be valid.

(2)
Now the force balance is given as:
This differential equation is known as the simple harmonic oscillator and its solution is
(3)
where a>0 , w>0

A graph of x vs. t derived from equation (3). The type of motion displayed here is called simple
harmonic oscillation. It can be seen that the displacement x oscillates between x = -a & x = a.
Here, a is termed the amplitude of the oscillation. Moreover, the motion is repetitive in time (i.e.,
it repeats exactly after a certain time period has elapsed). The repetition period is

The frequency of the motion i.e., the number of oscillations/cycles completed per second is

It is apparent that is the motion's angular frequency: that is, the linear frequency f is
converted into angular frequency i.e., radians per second.

Experiment No.3
No. 11-ME-77

Reg.

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