Experiment 5: Harmonic Oscillator Part I.

Spring Oscillator

Introduction The purpose of this experiment is to explore the behavior of oscillating objects in both free-oscillating (undamped) and damped oscillating systems. More specifically, the effects of damping on the oscillating systems frequency will be observed and analyzed. The objective of this experiment is to obtain the resonant frequencies for both cases of oscillation and compare them with one another, as well as with a predicted frequency calculated beforehand. Derivations The following equation serves as a mathematical model for the oscillating system: (Equation 1) where m is mass, k is the spring constant, and b is the damping coefficient with units of kg/s.

The solutions to the linear ordinary differential equation above can be solved for by using the characteristic solution: ( ) (Equation 2) Plugging this back into Equation 1 and factoring out gives the following equation:

Solving the quadratic for yields:

) (Equation 3)

Plugging Equation 3 into Equation 2: ( )

( ( ) )

( )

) )

(Equation 4) The second part of the equation, dissipative terms.

( )

is from the imaginary part of Equation 3, and expresses . This value is

The amount of time it takes for the amplitude to decrease by a factor of 1/e is simply called the damping time constant and is denoted by the symbol .

(Equation 5) Angular frequency damped is given by ( ) and is measure of how many radians occurs in one

second (2 radians being a full cycle). The frequency fdamped can thus be seen as: ( )

(Equation 6)

where

is the natural frequency of

Lastly, the Q factor is defined to satisfy:

where

(Equation 7)

Setup The setup consisted of a spring, a mass, an aluminum tube, and a force sensor. The spring was hung vertically on a force sensor on its upper end, with the mass attached to its lower end. Strings were used to connect these three parts instead of directly attaching one to the other to reduce the torsion in the spring. To add damping to the system, a nonmagnetic hollow tube of aluminum is incorporated into the oscillating system and the mass is embedded with magnets. When the mass oscillates within the

walls of the tube, the moving magnets will produce a change in magnetic flux and thereby allow the inductance of the aluminum to induce eddy currents. The generated current will be directly proportional to the velocity of the mass. The tube was attached onto a stand placed on the floor directly beneath the spring. The setup is shown below: Fig. 1: Experiment Setup

Procedure In both cases, the mass was attached on to the spring and tugged downwards to produce an oscillation. The force sensor on the other end of the spring recorded its voltage, and data was collected for one minute. The first fifteen seconds of the data was analyzed. In the damped case, the aluminum tube was placed such that the mass oscillated within its walls. The oscillation was centered carefully so that no contact was made between the mass and the tube walls. Data for both cases was plotted as a sinusoidal graph of voltage with respect to time.

Analysis The mass of the hanging weight used for both damped and undamped trials was 173.5 .1 grams, or .1735 kg.

Determination of Spring Constant The spring constant was found through experimental testing of five separate weights in which the stretched spring length, due to the masss force due to gravity, was recorded. This applied tension was plotted as a function of the displacement, and with the linear regression tool the effective spring constant, with uncertainty, was determined. The measured values for mass and their corresponding stretched lengths are presented below: Table 1: Determination of Spring Constant Mass (g) 50 100 150 200 250 Force (N) 0.4905 0.9810 1.4715 1.9620 2.4525 Stretched Length (cm) 13.5 28.6 43.8 59.0 74.1

Fig. 2: Determination of Effective Spring Constant: By plotting the applied force against the respective displacement, the spring constant was determined from the linear trends slope.
3 Applied Tension (N) 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 0.2 0.4 Displacement (m) 0.6 0.8 y = 3.2355x + 0.0544

The spring constant k, a coefficient characteristic of the springs stiffness in the Hookes Law F = - kx, was found to be 3.236 .002 (N/m) (uncertainty found from regression analysis). Hookes law for this spring is thus F = -3.236x. Predicted Value for Free Oscillation Frequency Given the mass of the oscillating object and the spring constant of the oscillating system, the free oscillation frequency can be obtained using the following relation: fo =

fo =

= .687 Hz

Fig. 3: Free Oscillation Frequency: The frequency of the free oscillation can be obtained directly from this voltage vs. time graph by dividing an arbitrary number n of maxima by its respective time difference. For this calculation, the approximation was done between the first and thirteenth peaks, which spanned over a period of 17.5 seconds from t = .68 to t = 18.15.
0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 -0.02 -0.04 -0.06 -0.08 -0.1 -0.12 0 5 10 Time (s) 15 20

Force Sensor Voltage (V)

fo =

= .687 Hz

This value matches exactly with the predicted frequency of oscillation. Fig. 4: Damped Oscillation Frequency: Calculating the oscillatory frequency in the same manner as in the undamped case, the damped oscillation frequency was also found to be .687 Hz.
0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0 -0.01 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04 -0.05 0 5 10 Time (s) 15 20

Force Sensor Voltage (V)

fdamped =

= .687 Hz

Ratio of Successive Extrema In order to find the decaying exponential at which the systems amplitude is decreasing, the ratios between successive peaks were found. Knowing that the offset equilibrium voltage occurs at -0.005 V, the correct amplitudes can be determined and thus the ratio between consecutive peaks. This was done for the first six consecutive peaks. Taking amplitudes once per oscillation period T, the ratio of successive peaks is equivalent to: ( ( ) Given that T = , solving for yields the following equation: )

( )

Table 2: Ratio of Peak Amplitudes Extremum No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Voltage (V) .026 .024 .016 .015 .011 .008 Amplitude (V) .031 .029 .021 .020 .016 .013 Ratio 0.9355 0.7241 0.9524 0.8000 0.8125 Peak Location (s) .234 1.716 3.148 4.602 6.084 7.488

Fig. 5: Ratio of Successive Peaks

1.2 1 0.8 Ratio 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 2 4 Time (s) 6 8

The plot of ratios does not show any obvious trend as the points appear to be scattered about some mean value. This is sufficient because if the damping force is to be proportional to velocity, there should not be an evident trend. Based on these ratios, it can be assumed that these points hover around a mean value of about 0.84 0.05 (error calculated as the variance within the ratios). Value of Since both the value of T and the average ratio of the peaks are known, using
( ( ) )

, the

damping time is found to be 8.6 0.3 seconds. The error was found using error propagation. Value of Q From

, the value of b must first be determined to find Q. From Equation 5,

, the value of

b can be determined: = Plugging into

( )

= .04018 kg/s

:
( )( )

=18.65

Plugging into Equation 7 to find the predicted value for the damped oscillation frequency: = .687 =.687 Hz

Because the value for Q was large, the predicted damped oscillation frequency was exactly equal to the natural frequency , which, when compared to the damped frequency calculated from Figure 4, are exactly the same. The two oscillation frequencies are not distinguishable.

Conclusion The purpose of the experiment was to obtain the measured frequencies for both undamped and damped oscillating systems and compare it to their predicted values. In all cases, these frequencies were found to be nearly identical with a value of .687 Hz to three decimal places. The damping did not appear to have a significant or noticeable effect on the frequency of the oscillating system. Several errors may have occurred in this experiment. One such error is the mass may not have oscillated in a perfectly straight vertical line; instead it may have displayed an uneven bouncing motion in various directions as it oscillated. This would affect the measured amplitudes and the frequency, yielding potentially shorter amplitudes due to its offset path and higher frequencies as well. The motion of the oscillating must thus be carefully initiated and monitored such that it oscillates as straight as possible. Another possible error lies in the strings used to attached the spring to the force sensor and the mass to the spring. Although

these are necessary in minimizing the torsion in the spring, they do not behave like the spring does. During oscillation, it is possible that the strings experienced a jerking motion, especially if the strings were not tied on tightly and merely looped on. This could negatively affect experimental results, as an upward jerk at the top of the oscillation would result in a decreased amplitude due to an upward jerk. This problem can be minimized by using a string that is as short as possible and attached securely to its connecting components. Extra Credit Fast Fourier Transforms of the data were also taken for both damped and undamped cases. The width of the peak (f) was measured at a height of 1/ of its maximum value. Q is approximated using the following formula:

Fig. 6: Approximation of Q from Undamped FFT: The maximum value in this FFT is 1.0 V. f is estimated at approximately 0.707 V.

=29.87 Fig. 7: Approximation of Q from Damped FFT: The maximum value in this FFT is 0.51 V. f is estimated at approximately 0.361 V.

= 19.63 These measured values for Q were greater than the value measured from the formula

, which

yielded a value of 18.65. However, the scaling on the undamped fourier transform could have been adjusted for greater precision as in the damped fourier transform, which had a smoother outline and smaller bars. As a result, the damped fourier transforms approximated value for Q was much closer than the firsts, a value of 19.63 which closely matches with the earlier value of 18.65.