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aqa A2 physics, january 2011 past paper question help

The period of vertical oscillation of a mass-spring system is T when the spring carries amass of 1.00 kg. What mass should be added to the 1.00 kg if the period is to beincreased to 1.50 T ?

A 0.25kg B 1.00kg C 1.25kg D 2.00kg

the answer is C, can anyone tell me why this is?

Reply 1

Joinedup

Original post by TheGreenDuck

the period of a mass spring system is 2π sqrt (m/k) - it's in the AQA formula sheet afaik

2 is a constant, pi is constant and k is constant

current period is 1T so you just need to square 1.5 to get the target mass

(or since it's multi choice you could try square rooting the possible new masses until you get 1.50)