Study Hooke's Law and Conservation of Energy
Convenient new Spring Cart Launcher
- Supports quality quantitative measurements
The Teaching Challenge
The study of Hooke's Law and Elastic Potential energy requires quantitative measurements of both the force needed to compress a spring as well as the velocity of the object after launch which allows for a calculation of the increase in kinetic energy.
Furthermore, the ability to measure all the parameters (mass, spring constant, spring displacement) is necessary to create the range of data necessary to create a graph and see the trends displayed by the data.
A Force Sensor pulls on the plunger, compressing the spring, as a motion sensor measures the resulting displacement of the cart.
The PASCO Solution
PASCO's new Spring Cart Launcher is ideal for studying both Hooke's Law and Conservation of mechanical energy. The Spring Cart Launcher includes three springs with different spring constants. All of our dynamics systems include carts whose mass is easily varied with the use of additional masses, and all of the measurements are made simply and accurately through the use of PASPORT Motion sensor and Force sensor.
Solution at a Glance
| Qty. | ||
| PAScar 1.2 meter Dynamics System (ME-6955) | $239 | 1 |
| Spring Cart Launcher (ME-6843) | $49 | 1 |
| Xplorer GLX (PS-2002) | $329 | 1 |
| PASPORT Motion Sensor (PS-2103A) | $80 | 1 |
| PASPORT Force Sensor (PS-2104) | $110 | 1 |
| Elastic Bumper (ME-8998) | $39 | 1 |
| Compact Cart Mass (ME-6755) | $11 | 1 |
For more product information and to order products separately, see below.
Part I: Hooke's Law
Determining the Spring Constant
Your students will feel the increasing force as they pull the Force Sensor attached to the spring on the Spring Cart Launcher. The distance the spring is compressed is measured using a Motion Sensor and the graph of force versus displacement is plotted in real time. The spring constant is determined from the slope of the graph.
Part II: Conservation of Energy
Spring Potential Energy
The spring is compressed by pulling the rod of the Spring Cart Launcher through two endstops. Then the end of the Spring Cart Launcher is held in place using a pin. The potential energy is measured using a Motion Sensor to record the displacement of the spring.
Kinetic Energy
The pin is pulled, releasing the cart, and the Motion Sensor is used to measure the launch velocity of the cart. The students can compare the stored potential energy in the spring to the resulting kinetic energy of the cart.
This graph shows the launch velocity (0.814 m/s) of the cart. For this experiment, about 90% of the stored potential energy was converted into the kinetic energy of the 555 g cart.
Downloads
- Download the manual (180 KB, .pdf)
- Setup file for Hooke's procedure (.glx, 12 KB) (8 KB, .glx)
- Sample Data file for Hooke's procedure (.glx, 24 KB) (23 KB, .glx)
- Setup file for Energy procedure (.glx, 12 KB) (9 KB, .glx)
- Sample Data file for Energy procedure (.glx, 28 KB) (27 KB, .glx)
Here's What You Need
U.S. Educator prices shown.
PAScar 1.2 meter Dynamics System (ME-6955) - $239
The PAScar 1.2 m Dynamics System equips your lab with carts and a high-quality aluminum track for Newton's Laws, collisions, velocity and acceleration experiments.
Includes:
- PAScars (2)
- Track, 1.2 M
- Adjustable Endstop
- Rod Clamp
- 250 gram Mass (2)
- Adjustable Feet (2)
- Experiment Manuals
Spring Cart Launcher (ME-6843) - $49
The new Spring Cart Launcher provides an economical way to launch carts in a repeatable fashion.
Includes:
- Spring Cart Launcher
- Trigger Pin
- 3 Different Strength Springs
Here's what you'll need:
Xplorer GLX (PS-2002) - $329
The world's first graphing logger for science that truly stands alone... the Xplorer GLX captures, analyzes, annotates, stores and prints data quickly and seamlessly, without being connected to a computer.
Includes:
- Two fast response, low thermal mass temperature probes.
- Voltage probe.
- Built-in sound sensor.
- Built-in speaker.
- Power adapter and battery charger.
- USB "A" to USB "B" cable.
- DataStudio Lite for use as a PASPORT interface to computer.
- Users guide and tutorial CD.
PASPORT Motion Sensor (PS-2103A) - $80
Our Motion Sensor uses ultrasonic pulse ranging technology to help focus on the target and ignore false targets.
Includes:
PASPORT Force Sensor (PS-2104) - $110
This Force Sensor is specifically designed to support student labs from cart collisions to tug-of-war.
Includes:
Elastic Bumper (ME-8998) - $39
The Elastic Bumper protects the Motion Sensor from the carts, but doesn’t interfere with the ultrasonic pulse.
Includes:
- 2 pairs of brackets
- 10 meters of elastic material
Additional Information
Already have a PASCO Dynamics System?
New PAScar Dynamics System include the new Adjustable End Stops. If you need to add these to your existing system, order Adjustable End Stops (ME-8971). Comes in set of two, and both are required for the Spring Cart Launcher: one to compress against and the other to pin the Spring Cart Launcher while it is compressed.