Dynamic measurement of the elastic constant of an helicoidal spring by a smartphone

Abstract

We describe an educational activity that can be done by using smartphones to collect data in physics experiments aimed to measure the oscillating period of a spring-mass system and the elastic constant of the helicoidal spring by the dynamic method. Results for the oscillating period and for the elastic constant of the spring agree very well with measurements obtained by different methods. We also discuss the error analysis that can be done in an introductory physics laboratory at undergraduate level.