Investigating the Factors Affecting the Time Peiod of a Pendulum

Investigating the Factors Affecting the Time Peiod of a Pendulum

Aim:

To investigate the factors affecting the time period of a pendulum

Introduction:

[IMAGE]The time period of a pendulum is the amount of time that a

pendulum takes to swing from position A, through positions B and C and

back to A again. It is the movement from 1 peak to another, i.e. one

oscillation. I need to examine the factors affecting how long it takes

for 1 oscillation to take place, In relation to the energy transfers

involved. After I have done this I can decide which factor to use as a

variable and which factors that I should keep the same.

Factors affecting the time period of a pendulum

Length of String:

The Length of the string will affect the time period of a pendulum

because it will mean that the pendulum travels a greater distance in

its oscillation. The path of the pendulum is like an arc on the bottom

of circle, with the piece of string as a radius. Thus, according to

the circle theorem: C=2Ï€r, the circumference of the circle will

increase, and so will the length of length of the arc. This increases

the distance travelled by the pendulum, and therefore the time taken.

Angle from which pendulum is dropped:

This affects the time period in 2 ways: The first is that it increases

the length of the arc of the circle that I talked about earlier. The

bigger the angle, the bigger the proportion of the circle is taken up

by the arc. Of the 360° of a circle, the amount that the pendulum

swings through is equal to twice the angle that it is dropped at, this

is because it will swing from the angle to 0° and will carry on going

for approximately the same amount as it went through due to its

momentum.

Text Box: Gravitational potential energy (Egpe) = Mass (M) * acceleration due to gravity (G) * height (h)

The second way that the angle from which the pendulum is dropped will