Vernier Software & Technology

# Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion

## Introduction

We can describe an oscillating mass in terms of its position, velocity, and acceleration as a function of time. We can also describe the system from an energy perspective. In this experiment, you will measure the position and velocity as a function of time for an oscillating mass and spring system, and from those data, plot the kinetic and potential energies of the system.

Energy is present in three forms for the mass and spring system. The mass, m, with velocity, v, can have kinetic energy KE

$KE = \frac{1}{2}m{v^2}$

The spring can hold elastic potential energy, or PEelastic. We calculate PEelastic by using

$P{E_{elastic}} = \frac{1}{2}k{y^2}$

where k is the spring constant and y is the extension or compression of the spring measured from the equilibrium position.

The mass and spring system also has gravitational potential energy (PEgravitational = mgy), but we do not have to include the gravitational potential energy term if we measure the spring length from the hanging equilibrium position. We can then concentrate on the exchange of energy between kinetic energy and elastic potential energy.

If there are no other forces experienced by the system, then the principle of conservation of energy tells us that the sum ΔKE + ΔPEelastic = 0, which we can test experimentally.

## Objectives

• Examine the energies involved in simple harmonic motion.
• Test the principle of conservation of energy.

## Sensors and Equipment

This experiment features the following Vernier sensors and equipment.

You may also need an interface and software for data collection. What do I need for data collection?

## Physics with Vernier

See other experiments from the lab book.

 1 Graph Matching 2A Back and Forth Motion 2B Back and Forth Motion 3A Cart on a Ramp 3B Cart on a Ramp 4A Determining g on an Incline 4B Determining g on an Incline 5 Picket Fence Free Fall 6 Ball Toss 7 Bungee Jump Accelerations 8A Projectile Motion (Photogates) 8B Projectile Motion (Projectile Launcher) 9 Newton's Second Law 10 Atwood's Machine 11 Newton's Third Law 12 Static and Kinetic Friction 13 Air Resistance 14 Pendulum Periods 15 Simple Harmonic Motion 16 Energy of a Tossed Ball 17 Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion 18A Momentum, Energy and Collisions 18B Momentum, Energy and Collisions 19A Impulse and Momentum 19B Impulse and Momentum 20 Centripetal Accelerations on a Turntable 21 Accelerations in the Real World 22 Ohm's Law 23 Series and Parallel Circuits 24 Capacitors 25 The Magnetic Field in a Coil 26 The Magnetic Field in a Slinky 27 Electrical Energy 28A Polarization of Light 28B Polarization of Light (Rotary Motion Sensor) 29 Light, Brightness and Distance 30 Newton's Law of Cooling 31 The Magnetic Field of a Permanent Magnet 32 Sound Waves and Beats 33 Speed of Sound 34 Tones, Vowels and Telephones 35 Mathematics of Music

### Experiment 17 from Physics with Vernier Lab Book

#### Included in the Lab Book

Vernier lab books include word-processing files of the student instructions, essential teacher information, suggested answers, sample data and graphs, and more.