Pete writes in...
Talk about retro. I hand coded this page (for the first time in years) describing my homebrew spring constant measurement experiments. This is really the starting point for solid material characterization. If you have something cool that you've made with that chemistry kit, you should take a look to see how you can start characterizing it, so you can model it and know what you can do with it.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 31, 2008 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Science |
Permalink
| Comments (3)
| Email This |
| Digg this!
Oldest comments listed first.
Subscribe to MAKE Magazine!
Subscribe today, save 42% and get web access to MAKE free. MAKE Digital Edition is available only to subscribers.
$34.95 / 1 year
(4 Quarterly Issues)
Check out all of the episodes of Make: television
 |
MAKE on Facebook Visit our Facebook page and become a fan of MAKE! |
 |
MAKE on Twitter Follow our MAKE tweets! |
 |
MAKE on Flickr Join our MAKE Flickr Pool! |
Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!
Click here to advertise on MAKE!
Gareth Branwyn
Senior Editor
Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
| AIM | Twitter
Becky Stern
Associate Editor
| AIM | Twitter
Marc de Vinck
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter
John Park
Contributing Writer
| Twitter
Sean Ragan
Contributing Writer
| Twitter
Matt Mets
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter
Dale Dougherty
Editor & Publisher
| Twitter
Shawn Connally
Managing Editor
| Twitter
Goli Mohammadi
Associate Managing Editor
Kip Kay
Weekend Projects
| AIM | Twitter
Collin Cunningham
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter
Adam Flaherty
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter
More contributors: Mark Frauenfelder (Editor-in-Chief, MAKE magazine), Kipp Bradford (Technical Consultant/Writer), Chris Connors (Education), Diana Eng (Guest Author), Peter Horvath (Intern), Brian Jepson (O'Reilly Media), Robert Bruce Thompson (Science Room)
Weekend Project: Beetlebot
Simple robot from your parts bin that avoids obstacles. Thanks go to Jerome Demers for the original article in MAKE, Volume 12. To download the Beetlebot video, click here or subscribe in iTunes. Check out the complete Beetlebot article...
More...
www.flickr.com
|
www.flickr.com
|
Help | Write for MAKE | Contact Us | Subscribe | Advertise with Us | Privacy Policy| About MAKE | FAQ
© 2009 O'Reilly Media, Inc.
All trademarks and registered trademarks appearing on makezine.com are the property of their respective owners.
RSS
I love the setup, but the distance of the weight to the fixed anchor of the stem doesn't seem to be accounted for in the math. Surely if you moved the pivot point out, you'd get a bigger deflection and measure a totally different (higher) spring constant, right?
This will work great if your application only uses the same pivot-point distance you tested with; otherwise, I think the protractor you've got there would be useful - use torque and angles instead of force and distance to come up with a slightly different version of Hooke's law (I'm sure it's been done, but I don't know the name).
Reply to this comment
In fact, this is how I have the undergrad who my wife's supervising doing the measurements. I was documenting this quickly after the build, and didn't yet get to go into the details of a pivot-to-pivot measurement and the math to use. I mean to do that soon in v.2 of the documentation. Thanks for reading, though, and thanks for the useful advice to fellow readers!
Reply to this comment
Definitely a cool read, and good to know.
Reply to this comment