Proportionality between Frequency and Mass

Click For Summary

Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the relationship between mass and frequency, specifically how mass affects frequency in a physical setup involving circular motion. The original poster attempts to plot frequency against mass and observes a parabolic shape in the resulting graph.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants question the apparatus used for the investigation and suggest exploring known formulas related to frequency and mass. There is discussion about the nature of the relationship, with suggestions to consider both direct and inverse relationships, including the possibility of plotting frequency against mass squared or the inverse of mass squared.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively engaging with the original poster's observations and providing guidance on how to further analyze the data. There is an acknowledgment of different potential relationships between mass and frequency, and the conversation is exploring various interpretations of the results.

Contextual Notes

The original poster has not provided specific equations or a detailed description of the experimental setup, which may influence the interpretation of the results. There is also a mention of a mass being swung in circular motion, which may imply specific physical principles at play.

HeavyGuy
Messages
5
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



There was an investigation on how mass affected frequency and we had to plot this relationship.


Homework Equations


None


The Attempt at a Solution



I plotted frequency as the y-axis and mass as the x-axis. I got this weird parabolic shape opening upwards and I'm not quite sure if this is right at all. If someone could tell me the proportionality between these 2 factors, that'd be great. thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Welcome to PF, HeavyGuy.
What was the apparatus?
If it was a spring, you could look up a spring formula relating f and m.
Likewise if it was a pendulum, or whatever.
Perhaps that is making it too easy. You might want to guess what the relationship is. Parabolic certainly suggests a square or a square root. Say you think the formula is f = k*m². Then you compute m² for each data point and plot f vs m². If your formula is correct, you'll get a straight line and its slope will be the k.
 
Delphi51 said:
Welcome to PF, HeavyGuy.
What was the apparatus?
If it was a spring, you could look up a spring formula relating f and m.
Likewise if it was a pendulum, or whatever.
Perhaps that is making it too easy. You might want to guess what the relationship is. Parabolic certainly suggests a square or a square root. Say you think the formula is f = k*m². Then you compute m² for each data point and plot f vs m². If your formula is correct, you'll get a straight line and its slope will be the k.

thanks for the reply. there was a mass attached to a mass and it was swung in a horizontal circular motion above the head. ill try to plot m^2 right now.
 
I forgot the possibility that the frequency decreases as the mass increases. If you have this kind of thing going on, then you need to invert something, for example try f vs 1/m².
 
Delphi51 said:
I forgot the possibility that the frequency decreases as the mass increases. If you have this kind of thing going on, then you need to invert something, for example try f vs 1/m².

thanks a lot for your help. that is correct :)
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
6K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
4K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
1K
Replies
2
Views
6K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
1K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
11K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
8K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
6K