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Title: Simple Harmonic Motion

Aim: To determine the Young’s modulus of a material

Apparatus/Materials:
 G-clamp
 Slotted mass and hanger
 3 metre ruler
 Scissors
 String
 Tape
Diagram:

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Principle/Theory:

 A modulus is a numerical value, which represents a physical property of a

material .

When a material is stretched stress is directly proportional to strain provided it is not

stretched beyond the limit of proportionality. The gradient of the graph below gives us
the value of the Young Modulus for that particular material.

E = σ / ε = (F/A) / (ΔL/L0) = FL0 / AΔL

Where:

E is Young's modulus, usually expressed in Pascal (Pa)

σ is the uniaxial stress
ε is the strain
F is the force of compression or extension
A is the cross-sectional surface area or the cross-section perpendicular to the applied
force
Δ L is the change in length (negative under compression; positive when stretched)
L0 is the original length

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Procedure:

1. The bench pulley was fixed at the end of the lab bench and one end of the
material was trapped between the two wooden blocks .
2. A G-clamp was used to secure it to the bench approximately 3m from the
pulley.
3. The material was laid out so that it passes over the pulley and attached to
the slotted mass hanger at the end .
4. The metre ruler was laid under the wire near the pulley and attached to a
sticky label to act as a length marker.
5. The length of the wire ,L, from the wood blocks to the edge of the paper
was measured.
6. Masses were added to the hanger and the position of the marker against
the ruler was recorded .
7. The extension for each mass was calculated .
8. A graph of mass added against extension was plotted .

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Observations/Results:

Length of string (m) Mass(Kg)

0.008 0.5
0.01 0.7
0.011 0.9
0.012 1
0.125 1.1
0.013 1.2
0.013 1.3

TABLE SHOWING THE LENGTH OF THE STRING AND THEIR

CORRESPONDING MASS.

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Calculations:

Original length of string : 1.08m

Diameter of string : 0.0013m
d2
Cross-sectional area of wire : π
2
2
d
¿π
2 ()
2
π ×0.0013
¿ ( 4 )
= 1.33 × 10-6 m2

L
Young’s Modulus = gradient ×
A
Y 2−Y
Gradient : 1

X 2− X 1

11.8−4.91
Gradient :
0.013 – 0.008❑

Gradient : 1,378 Nm-1

Youngs modulus = 1,378 Nm-1 × 1.08 / 1.33 × 10-6 m2

Young’s modulus : 1.69 × 10-3 Pa

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Discussion:
Young's modulus (E or Y) is a measure of a solid's stiffness or resistance to elastic
deformation under load. It relates stress (force per unit area) to strain (proportional
deformation) along an axis or line. The basic principle is that a material undergoes elastic
deformation when it is compressed or extended, returning to its original shape when the
load is removed. More deformation occurs in a flexible material compared to that of a
stiff material.A low Young's modulus value means a solid is elastic.
A high Young's modulus value means a solid is inelastic or stiff.
The stress applied to a material is the force per unit area applied to the material. The
maximum stress a material can stand before it breaks is called the breaking stress or
ultimate tensile stress. Tensile means the material is under tension. The forces acting on it
are trying to stretch the material. The ratio of extension to original length is called strain
it has no units as it is a ratio of two lengths measured in metres.
One the most important tests in engineering is knowing when an object or material will
bend or break, and the property that tells us this is the Young’s modulus. It is a measure
how easily a material stretches and deforms.
Wires obey Hooke’s law, just like springs do. When a force F is applied, it will extend
some distance x, which can simply be described by the equation F = kx
Whereas k for a spring is the spring constant, the amount of extension for a wire depends
its cross sectional area, length, and the material it is made from. The Young’s modulus
(E) is a property of the material that tells us how easily it can stretch and deform and is
defined as the ratio of tensile stress (σ) to tensile strain (ε). Where stress is the amount of
force applied per unit area (σ = F/A) and strain is extension per unit length (ε = dl/l)
Since the force F = mg, we can obtain the Young’s modulus of a wire by measuring the
change in length (dl) as weights of mass m are applied (assuming g = 9.81 metres per
second squared). Elasticity is a physical property of a material where the material returns
to its original shape after being deformed. Substances the display a high degree of
elasticity are termed "elastic."Elasticity plays an important role in the choice of materials
for engineering applications.Cables that suspend bridges and elevators must not reach
their elastic limits under typical loads. In fact , engineers typically apply safety factors of
5 or above when designing structures . The dimensions and the elastic moduli of the
materials must be such that the cables must be able to support at least 5 times the
maximum expected loads. The same idea is incorporated into the manufacture of leaf
springs for trucks . Hard- discs on computers spin at very high frequencies . If these discs
are not to stretch appreciably when spinning at these high frequencies , they must be
able of very hard materials . The downside of this is that very hard materials are also very
brittle.

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A long string was used because it makes the extension large enough to read. Since x =
FL
, a large value for L and a small value for A make x sufficiently large to measure with
AE
a metre ruler. A good technique to measure diameter would be using a vernier caliper .

Conclusion:

It can be concluded that the spring constant of a spring can be found. The spring constant
in this experiment was found to be 116.67 Nm. The period was found to be 0.297s and T2
was found to be 0.0822 s.

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Limitations:

❋ Sources of error
 There might have been a parallax error while measuring the length of
the string
 The string might have been held too tight between the two wood.

❋Precaution
 It was ensured that different masses were added to the string for a wide
range of data.
 It was ensured that the G-clamps were not too tight.

Reflection:
The Young's modulus of a material is a useful property to know in order to predict the
behaviour of the material when subjected to a force. This is important for almost
everything around us, from buildings, to bridges to vehicles and more.

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