Unofre Pili, Renante Violanda
In introductory physics laboratories, spring constants are traditionally measured using the static method. The dynamic method, via vertical spring-mass oscillator, that uses a stopwatch in order to measure the period of oscillations is also commonly employed. However, this time-measuring technique is prone to human errors and in this chapter we present a similar setup, except for the motion timer being the B-field sensor of a smartphone, in order to measure the period of oscillations and thus the spring constant. The smartphone device as an introductory physics experimental tool is quite well established [1]. For instance, the smartphone-based acceleration sensor has been employed in a rather quick measurement of the acceleration due to gravity (Chap. 6) [2] and in analyzing simple pendulum phenomena (Chap. 29) [3]. In addition, the magnetic field sensor of the smartphone device has been effectively used as well in measuring average angular velocity (Chap. 14) [4] and the acceleration due to gravity (Chap. 30) [5]. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reseverd.
University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
