26. In an experiment to determine the spring constant of an elastic spring a student hangs the spring and then attaches a variety of weights to the spring. The student attaches a 2kg object to the initially un-stretched spring. The object stretches the spring 15cm before coming to rest. The object is pulled downward an additional 15cm and released. Simple harmonic motion ensues. Air resistance is negligible.
a. What is the spring constant for the spring used in this experiment?
b. What is the frequency of oscillation for the spring mass system?
c. What will be the location of the object (relative to equilibrium) at exactly 2 seconds?
b. The student adds an additional unknown mass to the 2kg hanging object and repeats the experiment.
This time the student finds the frequency of oscillation to be half the frequency found in part b. Calculate
the value of the unknown mass.
