EXPERIMENT :-3
Determination of modulus of rigidity of material of a
given spring
Souvik Sarkar & Uddhipan Thakur
Chennai Mathematical Institute
B.Sc Physics 1st year
September 15, 2009
1 Aim of the experiment :-
In this experiment ,we will determine the modulus of rigidity of material of given spring by
recording the time while loaded with certain weight.
2 Introductory theory :-
When a spring is loaded with certain mass it oscillates in a vertical plane.Suppose, radius of
spring and wire are R and r respectively and mass M is hung from spring .Mg exerts a couple
tending the wire to twist.N is the number of turns of the spring.
Then, torque is given by
πr4 ηθ
τ= (1)
2N l
Depression of end x is Rθ
Hence
4πRN τ
x = R. (2)
ηr4
If f is restoring force due to wire then τ = f R Hence equation of motion is ,
d2 x ηr4
M 2 =− x (3)
dt 4N R3
Comparing with standard equation of shm we get
s
2π 4M N R3
T =
r2 η
M 4N R3
η = 4π 2 . . (4)
T 2 r4
From the equation it is evident that if we plot M vs T 2 graph ,it turns out to be a straight line
i.e. ratio of M and T 2 is almost constant.
1
3 Apparatus :-
1. Spring
2. Slide calipers
3. Screw gauge
4. Different masses
5. Stopwatch
4 Experiment :-
Firstly, we measure the diameter of the spring several times using slide calipers and take
the mean value.Then we attach it to a stand.Diameter of the wire is then measured by screw
gauge. Then twice the diameter of wire is substracted from outer diameter of spring to get inner
diameter and average of that two is taken as diameter of spring.Now a certain mass is hung from
spring .Mean position is marked.We lift it and let go causing a vertical oscillation.We measure
the time for 20 oscillation and record the corresponding data.The same process is repeated for
3 times.
Then graph plotting(T 2 vs M ) ,calculation of k and and error analysis is done based on the
obtained data.
5 Calculation :-
Radius of the spring= 6.3 × 10−3 m.
Radius of wire = 6.8 × 10−4 m.
No of turns = 216
Table 1 ::Mass(M)-1.539 kg.
M
Time for 20 oscillations Mean time Time period(T) T2 T2
(sec) (sec) (sec) (sec ) (kg/sec2 )
2
16.32
16.31
16.28
16.28
16.27 16.28 .814 .662 2.325
16.28
16.26
16.29
16.32
16.23
2
Table 2 ::Mass(M)-2.053 kg
M
Time for 20 oscillations Mean time Time period(T) T2 T2
(sec) (sec) (sec) (sec ) (kg/sec2 )
2
18.85
18.84
18.91
18.81
18.88 18.83 .941 .885 2.318
18.85
18.81
18.84
18.72
18.78
Table 3 ::Mass(M)-2.576 kg
M
Time for 20 oscillations Mean time Time period(T) T2 T2
(sec) (sec) (sec) (sec2 ) (kg/sec2 )
21.03
21.04
21.00
21.07
21.05 21.03 1.051 1.105 2.332
21.06
21.04
21.03
20.97
21.05
6 Analysis and results :-
From the data (ratio of mass and time2 )we see that it main tains almost constant value fos
different masses and time period.So in graph paper it represents a straight line through origin.
Most accurate value of TM2 is mean of three. So, modulus of rigidity of material of spring is
9.274 × 1010 N/m2
7 Discussions :-
7.1 Measurement of radius of wire/spring and weight-
1. Some intrumental error may arise if main scale zero doesn’t coincide with circular scale
zero .That have been taken care of by addind or substracting the error.
2. If the wire is not uniform then readings have to taken at different points and mean of
them is the best reading
3. While hanging the weights that should lie along the axis of spring .This doesn’t occur
during experiment.
3
7.2 Measurement of time period -
1. Firstly measurement of time period is not accurate due to personal observation error.
2. Oscillations should occur in vertical plane but it oscillates little in a horizontal plane also.
8 Error analysis :-
From the eqwuation (4) ,we can say
dη dM dT dR dr
= + 2. + 3. + 4. (5)
η M T R r
Here, dM=10−3 kg,dT=.01 sec,dR=dr=10−5 m
M=1.539 kg,T=.814 sec,R=6.3 × 10−3 m, r=6.8 × 10−4 m.
Putting those values we get,
dη
= .089 (6)
η
So,dη=9.274 × 1010 × .089=8.2 × 109
Corrected reading is =(92.74 ± 8.2) × 109 N/m2
