Damped Mass–Spring Analytics for H2 Physics Practical Excellence

Q: What does Damped Mass–Spring Analytics for H2 Physics Practical Excellence cover?
A: Capture high-resolution displacement data from a damped spring–mass system, extract logarithmic decrements.

TL;DR
A tripod-mounted smartphone filming a spring–mass oscillation gives you displacement–time data you can digitise in Tracker or PhyPhox.
Fit an exponential decay to determine damping coefficients, compare with theory, and practise writing uncertainty paragraphs on gradients, intercepts, and logarithmic decrement.
The workflow reinforces SHM theory while matching the video-data analysis style used in Paper 4 practicals.

Quick practical map

• Film a clean vertical oscillation and extract peak amplitudes: The whole analysis depends on readable data.
• Plot amplitude against time, then test whether a semi-log plot is close to straight: This checks whether exponential damping is a reasonable model.
• Calculate logarithmic decrement and write one uncertainty paragraph about camera angle, scale, and peak picking: This turns the activity into Paper 4 practice.

Concrete example: if successive peak amplitudes are 4.0 cm and 3.6 cm, the logarithmic decrement for that pair is $\ln(4.0/3.6)$. Repeating this over several pairs gives a steadier estimate than trusting one peak.

File this investigation under our H2 Physics Experiments hub for quick access during practical revision.

Why Add Damping to Your Practical Portfolio

• Candidates often struggle to articulate non-ideal oscillations; this investigation focuses on that blind spot.