Investigation of Energy Stored in a Spring

Investigation of Energy Stored in a Spring

Aim:- To investigate how the velocity of a trolley when different

spring compressions are used.

For this piece of coursework I am going to investigate how the

velocity of the trolley over a set distance, is proportional to the

compression of the spring.

I plan to use two different methods of carrying out the investigation.

These methods are :-

A Light Gate : - The trolley had a piece of card attached to it, on

the top.the spring of the trolley was then compressed and then

released, as irt passes through the light gate. The light gate is a

piece of equipment which is connected to a computer, and as the

trolley passes through the light gate, a light beam is broken, and the

time it has taken for the length of card to pass through is then

recorded.

Computer Simulation : - this is a computer program which allows you to

do exactly the same experiment as done in the light gate method..

however, it is a faster and much easier way to collect the data, and

the results are a lot clearer. You can alter the length of the card,

the compression of the spring and the distance that the trolley

travels.

To make this test a fair one, when the light gate is used, we will

keep the same trolley with the same spring throughout the whole

experiment. The only variable that we will change at any time during

the experiment is the compression of the spring, this is for obvious

reasons. For example, on the computer simulation, the weight of the

trolley will be kept the same. Also we will make sure that the

measurements arte accurate when using both methods.

Equipment used Throughout the Experiment

Light Gate : - 700 gram trolley with spring

10cm x 10cm card

Computer

Harvis Data Interface

Insight Computer Software

Light Gate

Floor space for trolley to run along