Assignment: Hooke’s Law Investigation (PLEASE ANSWER SOON OR IM IN TROUBLE)

Purpose: The objective of this lab is to determine if Hooke’s law is a valid law to apply to a rubber band, and if it is, to determine the elastic constant of that rubber band.

Safety: Remember that the rubber band will rebound when the force is taken away. Be careful not to let it or the masses go flying!

Data Collection:

Trial #

Hanging mass (grams)

Initial length (cm)

Stretched length (cm)

Distance stretched (cm)

1

2

3

4

5

Graph of Hanging Mass vs. Distance Stretched:

Finding the slope:

1. Find two data points that are on the line of best fit. Record them here.

Trial #

Hanging mass (g)

Distance stretched (cm)

2. Slope equals (change on vertical axis) / (change on horizontal axis). Determine the change in the

Vertical axis (hanging mass) :

Horizontal axis (distance stretched):

3. Calculate the slope:

Questions

1. Did the data look pretty close to linear? Write a statement of conclusion about the rubber band and Hooke’s law. (Refer to the purpose statement at the beginning of the lab assignment.)

2. Hooke’s law is a linear relationship, which means it has an equation that looks like y=mx. In the general equation m stands for “slope.” Look at Hooke’s law (Fspring= k(Δx)). Which letter is in the same place in the equation as m was in the general equation? So what does the slope of the graph find?