Pendulum Essay

Great Essays
During the course of this practical, the different factors of a pendulum will be investigated. A pendulum is a mass held from a fixed point so it is able to swing freely, the mass swings back and forth in an arc. The formula for finding the period of a certain pendulum lies in the change of the length of string suspending the mass, and the force due to gravity where the pendulum is being used. This relationship is shown in the equationT=2π√( L/g) (Sean, 2010), as the length of the string increases the period will increase, and as the force due to gravity increases the period will decrease. In this experiment the relationship between mass of the ball and the period will be investigated, it is assumed from the equation that the changing of the …show more content…
When the string is pulled against the skin, the friction and thinness of the rope may cut or burn the skin, this risk will be minimised by the use of extreme precaution when tying the line to the mass. A fast moving mass may harm the hands of a group member attempting to stop it and may unhook from the line and land on a group member’s foot, this risk will be minimised by wearing closed in shoes at all times and letting the masses reach equilibrium without human interaction. The ruler being used is made of plastic and can be shattered easily at which point the edges will be pointy and possibly sharp. To avoid being harmed by the ruler; it will be removed from the lab bench as the mass is released to minimise the risk of the weight shattering the ruler.
Method:
Screw retort stand into bench and attach clamp with boss head. Tie string to clamp, leaving 30cm of distance between both ends. Hook one 49.91g mass to the end of the string. Measure the 80˚angle from the equilibrium line using a protractor and raise the mass to this angle. Turn on the stopwatch. Simultaneously release the mass and start the
…show more content…
The equation of the line indicates that the period increased by 0.0003 seconds for every gram, this relationship between variables shows that there is hardly any change in period as the mass is increased in a pendulum. The trend was linear as the graph shows the equation for the line of best fit for the average being linear. This line is shown to cut through the period axis at 1.3593 seconds, as the gradient is so low, it is assumed that the period for all masses recorded was approximately 1.3593 seconds. The graph shows that as the mass of a pendulum ball increases, the period virtually isn’t affected. The table and graph both indicate low scatter between trials, this is seen on the graph as the different points for each increment of mass are close together. The line of best fit in the graph also indicated low scatter and high precision between increments as the average points are close to the line of best fit. As shown in the second graph comparing the linen of true value with the average line of best fit there is obvious systematic error in this experiment, the two lines are too far apart to suggest high accuracy in the results although both lines have a very low gradient showing that they share similar characteristics when the relationship between variable is

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