Question

A group of students in physics lab studied the stretch of a spring as a function of the weight suspended on that spring. They set up their apparatus so that the initial equilibrium position of the spring, Xo, corresponds to 14.0 cm and that all final stretched positions are positive.  

(a) For a hanging weight of 8.00 N, they observed a final stretched position of 105 cm. From this one data point, determine the spring constant of this spring, in N/m.

8.79 N/m


(b) Their complete set of experimental data is shown in the table below:

Fg = mg (N)	Xf (cm)
2.00	34.9
4.00	55.1
6.00	75.3
8.00	105
10.0	121
12.0	136
14.0	126

Use a spreadsheet program to plot the final position of the spring Xf (in m) as function of the weight of the hanging mass Fg (in N). Choose your scales sensibly and be sure to label your axes. Also, add a linear trendline to your graph and make sure that the fitting results show on the plot.  

(c) This data represents final position, Xf, as a function of hanging weight, Fg:

Xf = Xo + (1/k) F_g.  

Determine from the fit to the data the experimental value for the spring constant k (in N/m) and the experimental value for the equilibrium position Xo (in meters).

k_experimental= _____ N/m

Xo_experimental= _____ m

(d) If the known value for the static spring constant is 10.4 N/m, determine the percent difference between that known value and the experimental result.

Percent Difference = ____%

bolded questions need to be answered, please.

Answer 1