Grace Cooper

10-1-14
Science 1st
Mrs. Perani

The Effect of the mass of the bob on the

period of a pendulum

1.9

61.6, 1.845

1.8
Average time per period (S)

15.4, 1.75

1.7

30.8, 1.734

77, 1.84

46.2, 1.778

1.6
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.2
1.1
1
0

10

20

30 of the
40Bob of the
50 pendulum
60
Weight

70

80

90

The period of a pendulum is the time it takes to get from one side to another.
In this lab we attempted to find out if the mass of the bob would change the
period of the pendulum. I hypothesized that the weight of the bob will affect the
period of a pendulum by decreasing the period as the weight of the bob
increases, and my hypothesis was incorrect. The procedures for this lab were
adding a bob on the end of the pendulum to increase its mass. Then we recorded
how long is would take to find the average time of one swing. Our independent
variable was the weight of the bob, and our dependent variable the period of the
pendulum, which we kept in control by having each person stay at one job
making the data reliable.
My data shows that adding more weight on to the pendulum increases the time
of one average swing. My times in the data table are not consistently increasing
because it says with 1 washer it is 1.750 seconds and with two washers it is
1.734 seconds. The average times vary between the placement additional
washers. Overall my graph did not support my hypothesis because the time
increased as we increased the weight of the bob.
After creating our graph it showed almost zero slope. Later we compared our
data to another group that was experimenting on the mass of the bob. There data
and graph was similar to ours but when we had small slope they had none (which
was a horizontal line). We also compared our data to others groups such as
length of the pendulum and the start angle or height. For the length of the
pendulum graph it resulted as increasing by 1 each time, making more of a

Grace Cooper
10-1-14
Science 1st
Mrs. Perani
slope. After we compared our data to the group of start angle and or height and
theirs was very similar to ours because it had almost zero slope.
What effects the period of a simple pendulum is the tension in the pendulums
string. My classmates did not come to the same conclusion as what really effect
the period of a simple pendulum. There could be errors in our data because we
were finding out what the mass of the bob was, and as we added more weight on
to the end of the pendulum it was also causing more tension.
In conclusion, the period of a pendulum is affected by the mass of the bob.
When adding more weight to the end of the pendulum, it is creating more tension
to it, which make the period of the pendulum slower. Overall having other data to
compare to was helpful to find out what really effects the period of a simple
pendulum.