Damped Mass–Spring Analytics for H2 Physics Practical Excellence
Download printable cheat-sheet (CC-BY 4.0)19 Sep 2025, 00:00 Z
Join our Telegram study groupQ: 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 meeting SEAB's digital-data expectations for 2026 Paper 4.
Why Add Damping to Your Practical Portfolio
- Examiner reports repeatedly flag weak candidate commentary on non-ideal oscillations; this investigation fixes that blind spot.
- Quantifying damping ties directly to Wave & SHM chapters in the 9478 syllabus and expands beyond the typical simple pendulum write-up.
- Smartphones + free apps reduce hardware costs while delivering the high data density Cambridge praises in top scripts.
Apparatus Checklist
| Item | Notes |
| Helical spring with known spring constant | Calibrate using static loads (Hooke's law) before dynamic trials. |
| Mass set (100–300 g) | Choose two masses to illustrate how inertia affects damping. |
| Motion tracker (PhyPhox, Vernier Video Physics, or Tracker) | Provides frame-by-frame displacement to ±0.5 mm. |
| Adjustable damping mediums | Viscous fluid beaker, foam collar, or eddy-current damping plates. |
| Rigid support with background grid | Ensures consistent scaling in videos. |
