CANDIDATE NAME: NIHAR AGARWAL CANDIDATE NUMBER: 02605 002

Aim: Investigating springs in series.

Research question: Does the Hooke’s law apply to two spring connected in series also?

Background- Hooke’s law is the fundamental law of elasticity. Robert Hooke studied the
relation between the tension of the wire and the longitudinal strain produced due to it. The
law is stated as follows: “within elastic limits, the extension of an elastic body is directly
proportional to the tension (stretching force).

Extension (change of length) α tension (stretching force) F

Or

F= kx where k is a constant.

Spring in series….

A spring can be made by wounding a length of wire round a pencil such that each successive
turn is in contact with the previous turn.

However for this experiment a commercially available spring has been used. By fixing the
spring from one end and pulling it form another causes a tension force in the spring.

According to theory, once the region of proportionality is lost, the spring will deform
permanently.

Therefore, in the region of proportionality

F=kx holds true. F/N

e/cm

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CANDIDATE NAME: NIHAR AGARWAL CANDIDATE NUMBER: 02605 002

The spring’s for this experiment was set in series.

Data collection:

Hook’s weight: 17.5 g (+/- 0.1)

Length of spring 1: 4.2 cm (+/- 0.05 cm)

Length of spring 2: 4.3 cm (+/- 0.05 cm)

Height of hook = 5.7 cm (+/- 0.25 cm)

RAW DATA
Weight added on the Reading of the scale/cm
hook/gm (+/- 0.1 gm) (+/- 0.5 cm)

0 27.7

12.5 26.2

25.0 23.3

38.0 20.1

50.0 15.1

89.5 7.9

134.5 -1.6

PROCESSING

For the two springs set up in series as the weights added on them changed the extension also
changed.

PROCESSES DATA

THE WEIGHT ADDED/gm (+/- 0.1 gm) CHANGE IN EXTENSION cm (+/- 0.5 cm)
[AFTER THE HOOK]

0 0
12.5 1.5
25 2.9
38 3.2
50 5.0
89.5 7.2
134.5 9.5

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 CANDIDATE NAME: NIHAR AGARWAL CANDIDATE NUMBER: 02605 002

B
A

 The point A is (18.48, 0.743)

Referring “PHYSICS FOR USE WITH THE INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

As the referenced source says, “up to the elastic limit of the spring the force F is directly
proportional to e.
Therefore, F= kx
The further the spring is extended the greater the force required extending it even further.”
The Hooke’s law is stated as follows: “within elastic limits, the extension of an elastic body
is directly proportional to the tension (stretching force).”

Therefore, even if two springs are connected in series, the same pattern is observed.
Although, there is no evidence that after the “elastic limit” the springs connected in series

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CANDIDATE NAME: NIHAR AGARWAL CANDIDATE NUMBER: 02605 002

will also permanently deform as in the case of a single spring. When a best fit line is drawn
through the data points, a linear upward sloping line is obtained which confirms to Hooke’s
law.Therefore, it is concludable that with springs connected in series

Extension (change of length) α tension (stretching force) F

Or

F= kx where k is a constant.

This is the Hooke’s law. Therefore, Hooke’s law holds true even for the springs connected in
the series.

Evaluation procedure

The graph should have passed through the origin but the best fit line obtained does not pass
through the origin instead the y intercept is (0, 0.743)

The theoretical value states that value of c in f= kx should be 0 but according to the line
obtained on the graph in the investigation, the value of c is 0.743 which signifies the
uncertainty.

[Ideal line equation is y = mx + c]

Therefore, the experimental value obtained is not very accurate. The investigation should
have been improved on accuracy.

Improving the investigation

In order to improve the investigation, while reading the extension on the

Scale used for

Scale used in order to

The weights used should have followed a particular pattern but the weights did not weigh
accurately according to their labels.

A pointer should have been attached to the end of the spring to make the reading accurate.

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