Springs are found in most mechanical devices, from the simple mechanical pencil to the shock absorbers of a car. The amount of force required to deform a spring depends on its stiffness – a property called the spring force constant; a constant defined by Hooke's law. Enter the experiment to collect data from three different springs and then calculate their force constants.
When a spring is deformed by a force and then relaxed, it will oscillate – creating a simple harmonic motion. By measuring the harmonic oscillation of a spring, it is also possible to calculate its spring force constant and the force due to gravity. Enter the experiment to collect data for a soft and stiff spring and then calculate their spring force constants and the force of gravity.
