Series And Parallel Combinations of Rubber Bands -Testing Hooke’s Law

Sharma O and Sharma D

Published on: 2023-05-31

Abstract

This experimental work focuses on a hands-on experiment done testing Hooke’s law of series and parallel combinations of spring to rubber bands. It is very exciting to see if rubber bands can follow the theory given by Hooke or not. Whether rubber bands can behave like springs when they are attached in series and parallel combinations. In this work, six rubber bands were taken and then each of them was measured for their spring constant individually. Then, series and parallel combinations of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 bands were made to test their spring constants. These spring constants were then compared with the single band’s spring constants. It is found that rubber bands follow Hooke’s Law with some uncertainties and sources of errors. When bands are attached in series combinations, they become more flexible than a single band, and when they are attached in parallel combinations, they become stiffer than a single band. Rubber bands are made of polymer that behave like a stretchy chain-like molecule, but their molecules are not made of springs hence there are high percentage errors found when equivalent spring constants were compared with single bands using Hooke’s Law.