Measurement of spring constants of various spring-mass systems by using smartphones: a teaching proposal
Abstract
This study aims to develop a teaching proposal to measure spring constants of various spring-mass systems by means of the smartphones. Specifically, a single spring-mass system, a serial connected and a parallel connected spring systems are experi-mentally resolved, by using the ambient light sensor of the smartphones. The measurements are achieved by simply recording the light intensity, detected by the oscillating smartphone, as a function of time for the simple harmonic motion. Using the light intensity-time graphs, the average periods and eventually the spring constants are estimated and the outcomes are compared with the theoretical results. The overall outcomes of the work indicate some 3,3 % relative error for the serial connected springs and 10,8 % relative error for the parallel connected springs. The approach is important in the sense that the apparatus directly plots instantaneous momentum-time graphs and it creates an enjoyable and beneficial teaching atmosphere.
References
Chiba, M., & Sugimoto, T. (2003). Vibration characteristics of a cantilever plate with attached spring–mass system. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 260(2), 237–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-460X(02)00921-5
Çoban, A., & Erol, M. (2019). Teaching and determination of kinetic friction coefficient using smartphones. Physics Education, 54(2), 025019. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/aaff84
Countryman, C. L. (2014). Familiarizing students with the basics of a smartphone’s internal sensors. The Physics Teacher, 52(9), 557–559. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4902204
Cushing, J. T. (1984). The springâ€mass system revisited. American Journal of Physics, 52(10), 925–933. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.13796
DÃaz-Melián, V. L., RodrÃguez, L. A., Pedroso-Camejo, F., Mieres, J., de Armas, Y., Batista-Leyva, A. J., & Altshuler, E. (2018). Optics undergraduate experiments using smart (and not so smart) phones. In arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.09546.
Dilek, U., & Erol, M. (2018). Detecting position using ARKit. Physics Education, 53(2), 25011. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/aaa0e6
Erol, M., & Çolak, İ. Ö. (2018). Magnetically driven oscillator and resonance: a teaching tool. Physics Education, 53(3), 35027. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/aab30b
Monteiro, M., & MartÃ, A. C. (2016). Using smartphone pressure sensors to measure vertical velocities of elevators, stairways, and drones. In arXiv preprint arXiv:1607.00363.
Petry, C. A., Pacheco, F. S., Lohmann, D., Correa, G. A., & Moura, P. (2016). Project teaching beyond Physics: Integrating Arduino to the laboratory. 2016 Technologies Applied to Electronics Teaching (TAEE), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAEE.2016.7528376
Pili, U. (2018). A dynamic-based measurement of a spring constant with a smartphone light sensor. Physics Education, 53(3), 33002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/aaa927
Pili, U., & Violanda, R. (2019). Measuring a spring constant with a magnetic spring-mass oscillator and a telephone pickup. Physics Education, 54(4), 43001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/ab1432
Pramudya, Y., & Raharja, E. (2019). The influence of inclined plane angle to the oscillation period of spring and block systems. Proceedings of the 2019 Ahmad Dahlan International Conference Series on Engineering and Science (ADICS-ES 2019). https://doi.org/10.2991/adics-es-19.2019.3
Sans, J. A., Gea-Pinal, J., Gimenez, M. H., Esteve, A. R., Solbes, J., & Monsoriu, J. A. (2016). Determining the efficiency of optical sources using a smartphone’s ambient light sensor. European Journal of Physics, 38(2), 25301. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/aa51a9
Sans, J. A., Manjón, F. J., Pereira, A. L. J., Gomez-Tejedor, J. A., & Monsoriu, J. A. (2013). Oscillations studied with the smartphone ambient light sensor. European Journal of Physics, 34(6), 1349–1354. https://doi.org/10.1088/0143-0807/34/6/1349
Serway, R. A., & Jewett, J. W. (2018). Physics for scientists and engineers with modern physics. Cengage learning.
Taspika, M., Nuraeni, L., Suhendra, D., & Iskandar, F. (2018). Using a smartphone’s magnetic sensor in a low-cost experiment to study the magnetic field due to Helmholtz and anti-Helmholtz coil. Physics Education, 54(1), 15023. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/aaefb4
Authors
Momentum: Physisc Education Journal allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles and allow readers to use them for any other lawful purpose. 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The Authors submitting a manuscript do so with the understanding that if accepted for publication, copyright of the article shall be assigned to Momentum: Physics Education Journal