Analyzing Hookes Law Experiments: Taking it to the Next Step

[hays_scott]

hi can anyone suggest a way to take an analysis of a hookes law experiment at alavel up to "the next step"

at low loads there is a reduced amount of extension - can anyone suggest why? is this due to intial tensioning of the spring in question?

i have doen all of the standard analysis i just want someing to make it stand out.

any suggestions

thanks

scott

 

[whozum]

A spring's spring constant determines how it will handle a force, and inhernetly tension. The higher the spring constant, the higher the force required to induce tension in the spring. The proportion is bluntly written in Hooke's Law.

 

[hays_scott]

already covered that

i need something to really make it stand out



anyone?

 

[FredGarvin]

at low loads there is a reduced amount of extension - can anyone suggest why? is this due to intial tensioning of the spring in question?

A spring's deflection based on force goes all the way back to the parent material's properties and the other Hooke's Law. In the elastic range of the material, the strain (in your case deformation) is directly proportional to the load. That is why in some basic FEA applications, the elements used are modeled after springs.

A properly designed spring (a coil spring in your case) will reach it's solid height before reaching it's material's yield point and thus entering a non-linear result. I'd say that unless you want to get into the design or stress analysis of a spring, you may have reached the limit of the scope of your report.

Keep asking questions though. Perhaps we can come up with more.

 

[ZapperZ]

hi can anyone suggest a way to take an analysis of a hookes law experiment at alavel up to "the next step"

at low loads there is a reduced amount of extension - can anyone suggest why? is this due to intial tensioning of the spring in question?

i have doen all of the standard analysis i just want someing to make it stand out.

any suggestions

thanks

scott

You neglected to indicate at what educational level this should be designed for. This info is often left out in many questions being asked on here, and yet, it is a major piece of the puzzle for us to know how elementary or sophisticated of an answer that can be given.

If this is at the elementary level, then I suggest two different experiments:

1. Take two springs with roughly idential spring constant, hook them up in parallel (side by side), and then hand a common mass. Figure out the new spring constant of the system, and see if you can figure out the relationship between the new spring constant with the individual spring constants.

2. Same principle as above, but this time, hang the springs in series, i.e. hook one spring to the other to make a longer spring. Do the same thing and find the new spring constant, and the same analysis.

Zz.

 

[hays_scott]

done that and for various other combinations

and expressed mathmatically