Hooke's law with local materials

Hillario and Prens mass a marble in this variant of a Hooke's law laboratory.

Warren lines up an empty cup suspended by a length of elastic with zero centimeters on a meter stick
 
Nadine adds marbles and measures the distance the cup has descended. The students used 30 marbles to produce mass (gram-force) versus distance (centimeter)  measurements.
 
Cassandra masses a marble while Cecelia studies the laboratory.


 Annie and Clyde enjoy a lighter moment.


Antely copies data.


The students will have to determine whether the elastic is Hookean. The lab is modeled closely on physical science laboratories that typically use a spring, mass hanger, and slot masses to demonstrate Hooke's law. This lab uses only marbles, yarn, styrofoam cups, marbles, and triple beam balances. The lab can actually be done without the triple beam balance. The mass can be recorded in "marble" units or converted to grams using an estimated 5.2 or 5.3 grams per marble.

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