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Simple Pendulum (1)

The document outlines an experiment investigating the relationship between the length of a pendulum's string and the time it takes for one oscillation. The hypothesis suggests that longer strings will result in longer periods, supported by the formula T=2π√L/g. The experiment involved measuring oscillation times for various string lengths, calculating averages and uncertainties, and analyzing the data, which indicated a correlation but also highlighted inaccuracies in the results.

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4 views

Simple Pendulum (1)

The document outlines an experiment investigating the relationship between the length of a pendulum's string and the time it takes for one oscillation. The hypothesis suggests that longer strings will result in longer periods, supported by the formula T=2π√L/g. The experiment involved measuring oscillation times for various string lengths, calculating averages and uncertainties, and analyzing the data, which indicated a correlation but also highlighted inaccuracies in the results.

Uploaded by

123321geo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Simple pendulum

Physical science 101


Student name____Jonathan____

Research question:
-​ How does the length of a pendulum's string affect the time it takes to complete one
oscillation?

Purpose
For this experiment I want to study if there is a relationship between the length of a
pendulum and the period that the pendulum takes to complete one oscillation.
A simple pendulum is a pendulum that has a small amplitude of
s swing
Equipmentrwkjbfrehjfbwej]wrfiwerferfergr
For this experiment I will use a:rehjrebhrherhjerf
-​ retort standerwgwegrgergtegrewgwee
-​ stringiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
-​ an iron cube for the pendulum iiiiiiiiiiiiiii
-​ a stopwatchiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
-​ meter stickiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
-​ Protractor iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Hypothesis:
​ For my experiment, I hypothesize that as the length of the string increases the time it
takes for the pendulum to complete one oscillation will also increase proportionally.
This statement is supported by the use of the formula to find the period of oscillation
T=2π√L/g,
This equation makes me predict that I will observe an increase in period proportional to the
length of the string.
​
Dependent, independent and control variables:

-​ Independent variable:
The length of the string, this variable is varied to study the effects on the period of an
oscillation.

-​ Dependent variable:
The period of the pendulum, this variable is dependent on the length of the string.

-​ Control variables:
The mass of the pendulum stays constant during the whole experiment.
Acceleration due to gravity stays constant during the whole experiment.
The angle of which the pendulum drops also stays constant during the experiment.

Procedure
Step by step numbered points in past tense.

1.​ To start off the experiment the equipment was put in place and readied for the
experiment.
2.​ The retort stand was set up.
3.​ The stop watch was made ready to record data.
4.​ Once the retort stand and strop watch were ready the experiment was set up by
measuring 20cm of a string which had an iron cube attached to it.
5.​ The string was measured out and was attached to the retort stand.
6.​ Then the angle was measured to which the string had to be set to with a protractor.
7.​ Once everything was ready the pendulum dropped while at the same time pressing
the stop watch to start timing.
8.​ The pendulum completed 10 oscillations and at the tenth oscillation I stopped the
stop watch.
9.​ Then i found the average of each oscillation with this equation:
(time it take to complete ten oscillation)
(amount of oscillations)
10.​Conducted three trials for each string length.
11.​Recorded the data in a spreadsheet table.
12.​Calculated the average of the three trials for each length.
13.​Determined the uncertainty of each average.
14.​Computed the period squared and its uncertainty for each string length.
15.​Organized the period squared, maximum uncertainty, and minimum uncertainty into a
second table.
16.​Plotted the data on a graph, including error bars and equations for the period
squared, maximum, and minimum graphs.
17.​Created a lab report based on the analysis.
18.​Concluded the experiment.

Collecting and processing data

length/m t1/s t2/s t3/s taverage/s uncertainty


0.20 1.170 1.040 1.070 1.093 0.065
0.25 1.027 1.056 1.069 1.051 0.021
0.30 1.117 1.119 1.280 1.172 0.082
0.35 1.210 1.115 1.250 1.192 0.068
0.40 1.352 1.346 1.349 1.349 0.003

To calculate the uncertainty i used this equation:


(maximum value of each row) - (minimum value of each row)
2
So
(1.170 - 1.040)
2
This gives me the uncertainty of the average result when i used 20cm string length
which is 0.065

Second table:

L/m T2 /s max/s min/s Uncertainty of T2/s


0.2 1.195 1.076 1.314 0.119
0.25 1.104 0.040
0.3 1.374 0.139
0.35 1.420 0.113
0.4 1.820 1.824 1.816 0.004

This table includes T2 and the maximum, minimum uncertainty for each trial.

The graph:

Equation for line of best fit


-​ 3.13*x + 0.443

Equation for the maximum line of best fit


-​ 3.74*x + 0.328
Equation for the minimum line of best fit
-​ 2.51*x + 0.812

By using the formula to find the gradient I could calculate the percentage error of my
experiment by comparing the gravity using my line of best fit to the actual gravity of the earth

As shown on the image the gravity from my results


differ from the actual gravity by 28.4%.
This means the percentage error of my
experiment is 28.4%.

In conclusion, my experiment clearly showed a relationship between the length of the


pendulum and the period it takes for the pendulum to make one oscillation.
The relationship is that the longer the string length is the longer it takes the pendulum to
make one oscillation.
Although this is correct there were also inaccuracies with my experiment shown with the
incorrect gravitational force that was calculated using my statistics. This means that my
experiment shouldn’t necessarily be taken as a reliant source of information because there
are a lot of improvement that needs to be made for example:
-​ Using video footage to determine the time it takes for the pendulum to make one
oscillation to reduce human error.
-​ Including more significant figures.
-​ Having more trials

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