Unit 7: Oscillations
Physics 1 · Unit 7 · Paper 2

Oscillations unit test

A test on this unit alone, marked as a percentage and a letter grade — for the test your class is actually sitting, rather than for May. Answer everything, then submit once: seeing the answer to question 3 before attempting question 4 makes the final percentage meaningless.

Paper 1Paper 2Paper 3
Each paper is built from this unit’s 46 terms and is the same for everyone, so a teacher can assign “Unit 7, Paper 2” and every student sits the identical test. Multiple choice is marked objectively; the written sections you mark yourself against the model answer and rubric.
Suggested time 37 min 34 points0/17 attempted
1

Amplitude independence

2

Velocity and acceleration in SHM

3

Amplitude

4

What is absent from the period formulas

5

Period and frequency

6

Slope of T² against m

7

SHM position as a cosine

8

Vertical mass-spring system

9

Why acceleration is opposite displacement

10

Phase

11

Phase in SHM

12

The two extremes of an oscillation

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Pendulum on another planet

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: Squaring a period to linearize it

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Driven oscillation and resonance

3 pts

Short answer 4. Define or explain: Small-angle approximation

3 pts

Free response

10 pts

A group of students is asked to determine the spring constant k of a spring using a mass hanger, a set of known masses, a stopwatch, and a meterstick. The students hang a mass m from the spring, displace it vertically, release it, and time the oscillations. Table 1 shows the period T measured for each mass. m (kg) 0.100 0.200 0.300 0.400 0.500 T (s) 0.63 0.89 1.09 1.26 1.40

A. Describe an experimental procedure for collecting the data in Table 1, including how the students should measure the period and one step that would reduce experimental uncertainty.

B. The period of a mass-spring oscillator is T = 2π√(m/k). Indicate what quantities the students should plot on the vertical and horizontal axes to produce a straight line whose slope can be used to determine k, and describe how the slope is related to k.

C(i). Calculate the values to be plotted on the vertical axis. C(ii). Describe the resulting graph, including the axis labels with units and the approximate positions of the plotted points. C(iii). Describe the best-fit line.

D. Using the best-fit line described in part C, calculate an experimental value for the spring constant k.