Physics Lab Report - 2.

2
Akshay Jindal
(IMT2012002)
September 24, 2013
Date Performed:
Partners:

Instructor:

September 5, 2012
Amit Gupta
Anubhav Bhardwaj
Lijo Johny
Lukshya Madan
Prof. Balakrishnan Ashok

Objective

To calculate the rigidity modulus of a brass wire clamped at both ends.

Theory
1. The central disc has the moment of inertia mR2 /2 about the axis of the
wire. Here, m is the mass of the disk which is R2 t, where t is the
thickness of the disk(0.5 cm), and is the density of brass (8500 kg/m3 ).
Each of the two magnets have mass m and the distance between them is
2
d. Their moment of inertia is given by 2m(d/2)2 = md
2 .
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2. The torque per unit twist of the brass wire is nR

2l 2, where n is the
rigidity modulus of the wire, R is the radius and l is the length of the
movable clamp from the center of the wire. The factor two arises because
each half of the wire from the center to a fixed clamp produces this torque
per unit twist.
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it
. Here is the
3. Equation of motion of wire is given by I00 + nR
l = Te
twist of the wire at its centre, T is the torque exerted by the coils on the
wire and = 2f, where f is the frequency of the AC excitation. When
frequency of the excitation coincides with the natural frequency fnat , one
gets the maximum amplitude of oscillation. The natural frequency is the
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solution to the equation I00 + nR
l = 0.

Apparatus

Signal generator, Power amplifier, brass wire, multimeter , 30cm scale,

cylindrical disc of brass, two permanent magnets, two electromagnets

Procedure

(a) Fix the clamps on either side of the center of the wire so that they
are each at a distance of 10 cm from the center of the brass.
(b) Connect signal generator to the power amplifier. Connect the output
of the signal generator to the wires connecting to the iron core of the
experimental setup.
(c) When the signal generator is turned on, keep the signal amplitude
around two volts.
(d) Vary the frequency of the signal generator as dictated by the maximum amplitude of vibration of the disc. At resonance, AC frequency
= fnat . Change the length from 20 cm to 8cm in steps of 2 cm and
measure the natural frequency by observing resonance. Using the
above observations, plot f2 vs 1/l, here is the slope of the graph
obtained.

Experimental Data

Length(m)
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04

Frequency(Hz)
19.76
22.04
24.4
28.44

Calculations

Y-axis :
X-axis :
Slope of
Imagnets

f2 (Hz2 )
1/l (m1 )
the above graph = 25.85 Hz2 m
= 1.06 x 104 kg/m2

Rigidity M odulus (n) = ( 4I

R4 )
Error in calculating Rigidity Modulus,
R = 6.7 105 mm
a =
n
n

qP

P
P
y 2 m
P 2 yc 2 xy
(n2)( x nxmean )

= 5.2 101 mHz 2

R
= 2 a
a + 8 R = 4.2%

Results and Conclusions

The Rigidity Modulus of the brass wire = 39.3 GPa.

Discussion of Experimental Uncertainty

The distance between the disc and the electromagnets should neither be
too large or too small as they wont be able to exert force on the disc or
they will stick to the disc in respective cases.
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