Practical Assistance (1 Viewer)

[Pinkled]

I received a practical assessment and i'm not sure how I should approach it, or what I should do.
The question for the practical is:

How does the period of the oscillation of a loaded rubber band depend on the mass of the load?

In the description, it says:
When a mass is attached to an elastic band and let it hangs vertically under gravity, it will reach equilibrium at some point. If the mass is moved away from this equilibrium position (either upward or downward), it will start to oscillate.

Does this mean that the practical will involve simple harmonic motion?
or will it be a pendulum?

What should I do?

 

[jaylamdfa]

maybe if you tried working out and getting a muscle on your brain?

 

[jaylamdfa]

use google and research mass and elastic bands, i think that will help

 

[study1234]

You should do practice calculations (with random results), consider errors, write method, draw diagrams, write discussion of results (accuracy, reliability, validity).

 

[clementc]

The short answer is theoretically yes - this is pretty much a spring-mass system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_harmonic_motion#Mass_on_a_spring)
So technically (as seen on the Wikipedia page) your period should be T = 2π sqrt(m/k), and your frequency f = 1/(2π) sqrt(k/m)

So the square of the period should be directly proportional to the mass.

But in real life weird stuff happens, and your mass might start bouncing/swinging erratically, or you'll get different results for larger displacements from the equilibrium position, etc.