What is the Young's modulus of this iron alloy wire?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around determining Young's modulus for an alloy of iron based on experimental measurements involving a hanging wire. The wire's dimensions, the mass applied, and the resulting stretch are provided as context for the problem.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Conceptual clarification

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the calculation of force and question whether it should be based on the mass of one mole of iron or the weight of the hanging mass. There is also discussion about the relevance of the wire's mass in the context of Young's modulus.

Discussion Status

Some participants have provided insights regarding the irrelevance of the mole in calculating Young's modulus, while others emphasize that Young's modulus is a material property not directly dependent on mass. The conversation is ongoing, with various interpretations of the problem being explored.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the mass of the wire may be insignificant compared to the applied load, but the relevance of the wire's mass could change with larger dimensions. There is also mention of extraneous information that may distract from the core problem.

magma_saber
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Homework Statement


A hanging wire made of an alloy of iron with diameter 0.09 cm is initially 2.2 m long. When a 66 kg mass is hung from it, the wire stretches an amount 1.12 cm. A mole of iron has a mass of 56 grams, and its density is 7.87 g/cm3.

Based on these experimental measurements, what is Young's modulus for this alloy of iron?

Homework Equations


Y = \frac{F/A}{dL/L}


The Attempt at a Solution


What is F? Is it the mass of one mole times gravity?
F = 0.056kg x 9.8 m/s2
A = 2.54e-6
dL = 0.0112
L = 2.2
 
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magma_saber said:

Homework Statement


A hanging wire made of an alloy of iron with diameter 0.09 cm is initially 2.2 m long. When a 66 kg mass is hung from it, the wire stretches an amount 1.12 cm. A mole of iron has a mass of 56 grams, and its density is 7.87 g/cm3.

Based on these experimental measurements, what is Young's modulus for this alloy of iron?

Homework Equations


Y = \frac{F/A}{dL/L}


The Attempt at a Solution


What is F? Is it the mass of one mole times gravity?
F = 0.056kg x 9.8 m/s2
A = 2.54e-6
dL = 0.0112
L = 2.2
Don't worry about the mole...concern yourself with the weight of the hanging mass.
 
magma_saber said:

Homework Statement


A hanging wire made of an alloy of iron with diameter 0.09 cm is initially 2.2 m long. When a 66 kg mass is hung from it, the wire stretches an amount 1.12 cm. A mole of iron has a mass of 56 grams, and its density is 7.87 g/cm3.

Or alternatively, here's a sample of certain dimensions, here's an applied load, here's the change in length, the sky is blue and I had a sandwich for lunch. A popular technique to distract you and see if you understand what you're doing is to throw in extraneous information.
 
isn't young's modulus not dependent of the total mass? isn't it just based on the type of material such as iron. so it doesn't matter if the total mass is 100 kg or 1 kg, they should have the same young's modulus.
 
The mole is a useless bit of information. Youngs modulus is a material property so therefore not dependent directly on the mass or geometry for ideal cases.

It is important to note that the mass does have an effect indirectly.

In the original question: the mass of the bar is about 12g (worked this out in my head so check it). This compared to the 66Kg load is insignificant so the mass of the bar can be ignored.

However if the bar were very large (100kg) then this is obviously more significant than the load mass (66kg) so then the mass of the bar becomes important.
 

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