Scribd
Upload
2K views2 pages

The Simple Pendulum Lab

The document summarizes an experiment measuring the period of a simple pendulum. It outlines the objective to determine the pendulum's period and the acceleration due to gravity. The experiment found that mass does not affect period, in line with Galileo's findings, because gravity's acceleration is constant for all masses. Some sources of error were air friction and rope friction. The purpose of measuring the pendulum's period and gravity's acceleration was achieved with a reported error of 5%.

Uploaded by

Michael ComradeGeneral Chenko
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2K views2 pages

The Simple Pendulum Lab

The document summarizes an experiment measuring the period of a simple pendulum. It outlines the objective to determine the pendulum's period and the acceleration due to gravity. The experiment found that mass does not affect period, in line with Galileo's findings, because gravity's acceleration is constant for all masses. Some sources of error were air friction and rope friction. The purpose of measuring the pendulum's period and gravity's acceleration was achieved with a reported error of 5%.

Uploaded by

Michael ComradeGeneral Chenko
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

The Simple Pendulum Lab

Objective

The objective of this experiment was to measure the period of a pendulum and to

measure the acceleration due to gravity that is causing the pendulum’s movement.

Theory

The length of a pendulum is the distance between the pivot point and the center of

the bob. The amplitude is the angle that is formed by the length when the bob has been

raised. Gravitational forces accelerate the bob downwards. The mass of the bob is

measured in grams, it does not affect the period of the pendulum. The period of the

pendulum is the total amount of time it takes the pendulum to complete one complete

cycle, which is to return to the point where it started. The displacement in this case would

be zero.

Data

See attached.

Analysis

The mass of the pendulum does not affect its period because mass does not affect

its acceleration due to gravity. The acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the earth

is a constant 9.8 meters per second squared, which is not affected by the mass of the

object being accelerated in any way. This has been proven by Galileo’s experiment when

he dropped two different masses from a tower, and they fell at the same time. This also

holds true for pendulums, the mass does not therefore affect the period, and is not present

in the period formula. We had to divide the time by 50 vibrations as to get the average

time of one period, due to the fact that our experiment included friction from the air. We
called one cycle a vibration rather than a period because the air friction kept the bob from

reaching the same point again, it never completed a true period. In a vacuum chamber,

with ideal conditions, we would never need only one vibration in order to calculate the

period, because our amplitude would never change. During the trial, the amplitudes fell,

due to air resistance. The period of the pendulum is determined by length of the string

and acceleration due to gravity. If we were to go to the moon where the acceleration due

to gravity would be smaller the period of the pendulum would increase, there would be

less acceleration so it would move slower. To test the effect of different mass on the

motion of the pendulum, I would set up two pendulums. They would be in the same

gravitational field, and in a vacuum but would have different masses of bobs. They would

be released from the same height, and I would expect them to have the same period, and

therefore swinging motion.

Conclusion

The purpose of this lab, which was to measure the period of a pendulum and to

measure the acceleration due to gravity that is causing the pendulum’s movement, was

achieved because of the low reported present error, of 5%. Some sources of error include

air friction, and the friction of the rope, as well as the fact that the string was not attached

to the center of the pendulum. During this lab we learned about pendulums, the parts that

make them up, and the different things that affect their behavior.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy