EXPERIMENT NO.

5: HOOKES LAW
Professor Doebner von Tumacder

ABSTRACT
The fifth experiment entitled Hookes law tackled the elasticity of an object.
Elasticity by definition is the ability of an object to change its length, size or shape
under the action of a deforming force and to recover to its original configuration
upon the removal of the force. In the experiment, the object that would be observed
would be the 4N spring and 8N spring. The two spring received forces that were
chosen by the group that performed the experiment.

PROCEDURE
Experiment no. five was divided
into two main parts therefore there were
two sets of procedures to be followed
but first the apparatus must be
positioned perfectly. The spring must be
connected to the notch and to it, the
stretch indicator must be attached. The
reading on the transparent scale plate
must be zero and in line with the stretch
indicator. The spring that was used on
the experiment was a four and eight Newton spring
The first part of the experiment was to place the mass on the hanger that
was connected to the hanger. The change in displacement between the spring and
the weight of the hanging mass would be recorded. Using the equation F= kx, the
group would compute for the force constant. There would be three different trials
with each value of mass being incremented overtime. After performing different
trials, the average value of the force constant would be computed and the force and
displacement would be plotted along with finding the slope of the line. After trial 1a,
use the second the spring with 8N force and procedure would be repeated again.
Part two of the procedure was to compute for the total work done on the
spring and it can be calculated using the values taken from the first table. The area
under the graph force vs displacement would also be taken and plotted. The group
should compare the total work done and the area taken.

OBJECTIVES
The experiment has four main objectives; Firstly, to study the elastic
properties of the spring. The second objective would be to determine the force
constant of the spring that was utilized in the experiment. The third objective was to
investigate the relationship between the deforming force and the amount of spring

EXPERIMENT NO.5: HOOKES LAW

Professor Doebner von Tumacder

stretches and finally to determine the total work done on the spring when it was
stretched.
The following objectives tackled Hookes Law and it would be best to achieve
desired goals in order to relate the different relationship that was being shown in
the system.

INTERPRETATION OF DATA / RESULT

TABLE 1: DETERMINING THE FORCE CONSTANT OF THE SPRING
TRIAL

MASS(kg)

FORCE(n)

DISPLACEMENT
(m)

FORCE CONSTANT
(N/m)

0.010

0.098

0.024

4.080

Average

4.238

Slope of the line

5.1579

% difference

5.59%
Table 1

Table1A: Trial 1
Trial 1

Table1B:

f =kx k=

f =k x

equation 1
k=

0.098 N
0.024 m

k=

0.098 N
0.012 m

K= 4.080N.m

F
x

k=F/x

k=8.1667N.m

EXPERIMENT NO.5: HOOKES LAW

Professor Doebner von Tumacder

Average Force Constant =

4.080+4.000+ 3.970+ 4.900

4

Average Force Constant

8.1667+8.6087+8.4000+ 8.03281
4

AFC = 4.238N/m

Slope =

F 4F 0
X 4X 0

Slope =
Slope =

AFC = 8.3021N/m

equation 2

F 4F 0
X 4X 0

0.490 N 0 N
0.100 m0 m

Slope =

0.490 N 0 N
0.061 m0 m

Slope = 5.1579N/m

Slope=8N/m

|EV 1EV 2|
PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE =

EV 1+ EV 2
2

3)

|4.238 N /m5.1579 N /m|

PE =

4.238 N /m+5.1579 N / m
2

PE = 3.44%

X 100%

X 100%

(equation

EXPERIMENT NO.5: HOOKES LAW

Professor Doebner von Tumacder

|EV 1EV 2|
PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE =

EV 1+ EV 2
2

X 100%

(equation

3)

|8.3021 N /m8 N /m|

PE =

8.3021 N /m+8 N /m
2

X 100%

PE = 3.44%

TABLE 2: DETERMINING THE WORK DONE ON THE SPRING

TRIAL

TABLE
1A
TABLE
1B

FINAL
DISPLACE
MENT
0.10 m

AVERAGE
FORCE
CONSTANT
4.23N/m

WORK

AREA

0.021J

0.0245

%
DIFFEREN
CE
4.87

0.061 m

8.28N/m

0.015J

0.0149

0.67

Work =

1
2
2
kave ( X 4 X 0 )
2

Work =

1
2
2
4.238 ( 0.10 m 0 )
2

equation 4

Work = 0.021J
Area under graph =

( X 4 X 0 )( F 4F 0 )

Area under graph =

( 0.100 m0 m ) ( 0.490 N 0 N )

Area = 0.0245

equation 5

EXPERIMENT NO.5: HOOKES LAW

Professor Doebner von Tumacder

|EV 1EV 2|
PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE =

EV 1+ EV 2
2

3)

|0.021 J 0.0245|

PE =

0.021 J +0.0245
2

X 100%

PE = 1.64%

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

X 100%

(equation

EXPERIMENT NO.5: HOOKES LAW

Professor Doebner von Tumacder

Experiment No. five entitled Hookes Law tackled the topic of elasticity and its
properties. Hookes law for rigid body states that within the elastic limit of a body,
the deforming force is directly proportional to the elongation of the body.In the
actual experiment conducted by the group, a four and eight Newton spring was
tested on how elastic it is and how much force it can handle. In the first table, there
was an evident relationship between the force applied and the force constant.
Equation 1 showed the relationship between the force constant and the force
applied. Force applied was the product of force constant and its displacement so,
force applied is directly proportional to the force constant. The data taken by the
group when substituted for the percentage difference showed that the data had a
5.59percentage error. This exceeded the limit of 5% but because the difference was
very low, it was allowed.
The second table focused on acquiring the work done and the area under the
graph from the data that was taken from table 1. They substituted the values to
equation 4 and equation 5 in order to find work and area. The product of the force
and displacement is not equal to the area under the graph for the following reasons.
The area under the graphed formed a triangle which has the formula of one half the
base and height and since the displacement was in y-axis, it cannot be applied.
According to table 2, the work and area of the group of the first table was bigger
compared to the second table because the first spring has a lesser resisting force
compared to the second string resulting to higher work done by the weights and
higher area. The area of under the F vs X graph was equal to the work done
because when you integrate the area under the F vs x graph, the product will be the
force and the displacement and the definition of work is the product of force and
displacement thus making them equal.
We can properly conclude that deformation of rigid bodies can be caused by
different things including stress, center of gravity and moment of inertia. The
factors that affected the resulting deformation were its force and displacement. We
could also relate Hookes law in our daily lives, one good example would be the
rubber band. Stretch it to its maximum capability and it would come back to its
original shape but once its capability exceeded the maximum amount it could take,
it would break.