Pendulum Experiment Lab Report

507 Words2 Pages

The Effect Length Has on a Pendulum's Period

Prediction:

I predict that the shorter the length of string, the shorter the time it takes for the pendulum to complete one period. The longer the length of the string, the longer the time it will take to complete one period.

Equipment needed for experiment:

-Clamp

-Stopwatch

-Bob/Ball

-Metre ruler

-String

Obtaining the results:

I will be measuring the length of the string in 10s, so that I can obtain a wider range of results. I will then take 10 readings, and calculate the average time of osocilation for each length, making it a fair test. I also need to take into account what factors will affect this experiment. …show more content…

This is what I predicted at the beginning of the experiment.

Evaluation:

I think the method I used was a good way of carrying out the investigation, as it was a fair test. The results were quite accurate, but could be more accurate by doing an average of more than five different sets of results. This could also be a fairer test by making sure the string the pendulum is attached to is exactly 90° (right-angle) from the clamp stand.

Doing background research into the pendulum I found that Galileo was the first to properly experiment on this work. He discovered that a pendulum with a length of string four feet long would have a period that would be twice as long as a pendulum with a string one foot long.

So if the pendulum had a string that was 40cms long, it would be twice as long as a pendulum with 10cms.

If the period for a pendulum of 40cms was 1.4, then the time of the period for the pendulum of 10cms should be

Open Document