Mechanical Resonance Lab Questions

[lia256]

Hey everyone. I have a lab with questions we have to answer but I don't really have any access to equipment. I still have to answer the questions to the best of my ability and any help will be appreciated!

1. Homework Statement
A string is attached to two retort stands and two equal masses (200g) are suspended from this string by a thread. The length of the string holding mass 1 is 30cm long and the length of mass 2's string is changed to 10cm, 20cm, 30cm, and 40cm.In the lab, mass 2 is pulled back a small distance and released, the motion of mass 1 is then observed.

This is the image, where the length of I1 stays constant (30 cm) and the length of I2 varies.

1. At what string length did mass 2 create the maximum oscillation of mass 1? Using the term frequency, explain why this happened.
2. At what string length did mass 2 create the minimum oscillation of mass 1? Using the term frequency, explain why this happened.
3. Mass 1 had a large amplitude of vibration in only one case. Explain why.
4. What effect did increasing the tension on the string have on the amplitude achieved by mass 1? Why did this occur?
5. Using the terms “forced frequency” and “resonant amplitude,” describe the effect that increasing the tension had on the resonant amplitude of mass 1.

Homework Equations

None needed.

The Attempt at a Solution

For question 1, I was guessing 30 cm because the length of the strings holding mass 1 and mass 2 are the same therefore the resonant frequencies are the same (I have no idea if this is at all correct or if I'm just making stuff up.)
For question 2, I'm tempted to choose 10 cm though I don't know why.
For question 3, I think this would be the same as question 1 (it's the only one where both the lengths are the same).
For both questions 4 and 5, I don't know what the answer would be.

Thanks for any help!

 

[haruspex]

I don't really have any access to equipment

Doesn't sound too hard to set something up at home.

mass 2 is pulled back a small distance

I assume this is "out of the page" in the diagram.

Using the terms “forced frequency” and “resonant amplitude,”

Have you looked those up?

Relevant equations

Again, I am sure you could find some with a little searching.

For question 1, I was guessing 30 cm

Seems reasonable.

For question 2, I'm tempted to choose 10 cm though I don't know why.

What do you know about harmonics? (But I'm not sure of my own answer here.)