Experimentos de oscilações para o laboratório de matemática e física da Unipampa, Campus Itaqui

Abstract

For the understanding of the concepts of Physics and the better development of the students' learning, there is a consensus between teachers and students that the practical activity with the use of simple experiments is a pedagogical tool of great help.There are several simple low-cost experiments that can be built to aid in the learning of physics concepts. Among these concepts, we can highlight that of Oscillations, which is sometimes seen only superficially, restricted to formulas and theoretical exercises. Thus, in order to make the content more didactic and accessible to students at the Federal University of Pampa, and even to high school students from schools in Itaqui, we built two experiments related to a basic type of oscillation, which is Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM). In the first experiment, we used a simple pendulum (formed by a spherical body of mass m, a string of length L and a wooden support that held the spring and calculated the value of the acceleration due to gravity g. In the second experiment, we calculated the spring constant of two different springs using a spring, a plastic cup, marbles and a wooden apparatus that held the spring. With the variation of the masses inside the plastic cup, we determine the weight force and measure the elongation of the spring (x). With the values of the weight force and the elongation, we build the force by an elongation graph and determine the value of the spring constant for each spring. As a result, we found the value of the acceleration due to gravity of g = 9.79 m/s² in the first experiment. In the second experiment, we found the values of spring constants of k=14.41 N/m for the first spring and k=176.40 N/m for the second spring, which are in agreement with the characteristics of the springs. Thus, through the experiments, satisfactory results were obtained, as planned, through the application of the Simple Harmonic Motion equations. In addition, the experiments were well accepted by the students of the Federal University of Pampa, the main target audience, and who will later have a remarkable and fruitful experience with the instruments that will be available in the university's Mathematics and Physics laboratory, adding more knowledge in the study of the curricular components of Physics.