Tennyson,Schafer,Duncan1

CameronTennyson,TylerSchafer,andBryceDuncan
Mr.Hill
Physics,Period6
23April2015
SimpleHarmonicMotionofaPendulumLab
Introduction
Theobjectiveofthislabistoconstructsimplependulumsandtofindtheirperiods.After
doingthat,welooktofindthevaluefora
,orthefreefallacceleration.Then,weneedto
g
examinetherelationshipsbetweenlength,mass,andperiodfordifferentpendulums.

Supplies
RingStandwithring
Clay
String
CClamp
Procedure
1. AssembleringstandandattachtotablewithCClamp
2. Attachstringtoouterring
3. Measureclayandrecordindatatable
4. Attachclaytostring.
5. Measurelengthofstringeachtimeandmassifitchanges
6. Makesureclayissecure

Tennyson,Schafer,Duncan2

7. Getadevicethatcanbeusedasastopwatch
8. Droptheplumbobatlessthanorequalto15degrees
9. Starttimeratmaximumdisplacementandstopafter10timesofitreturningtothesame
maximumdisplacement
10. Dividetimeby10togettheperiod

Data
PlumBob129.92grams
ConstantMass
(29.92g)different
length

Length

Period

FreeFall
Accelerationa
g

Trial1

28.45cm

1.19sec

7.931m/s^2

Trial2

12.6cm

.72sec

9.595m/s^2

Trial3

41.6cm

1.34sec

9.146m/s^2

Trial4

7.3cm

.55sec

9.527m/s^2

ConstantLength(30
cm)Differentmass

Mass(inGrams)

Period

FreeFall
Accelerationa
g

Trial1

29.63

1.19

8.363m/s^2

Trial2

10.51

1.11

9.613m/s^2

Trial3

84.52

1.14

9.113m/s^2

Trial4

14.60

1.11

9.613m/s^2

Calculations

Tennyson,Schafer,Duncan3

Period:t(timerecordedfromstopwatch)/10(ornumberofperiods)
11.9/10=1.19sec
*restofvaluesontable
ConstantmassFreefallacceleration
T=2 L/g
T 2 = 42(L/g)
gT 2 = 42L
2

g = 4T 2L
2

.2845
g = 41.19

g = 7.931ms2
ConstantLengthFreefallacceleration
T=2 L/g
T 2 = 42(L/g)
gT 2 = 42L
2

g = 4T 2L
2

g = 41.19.302
g = 8.363ms2

Tennyson,Schafer,Duncan4

Graphs
*Note:Thereasonwhytheperiodlooksfaroffisbecauseweusedsmalldecimal.Thedecimalis
onlyadifferenceof.07s

*Note:Wecouldntaddalinebecauseweusedsuchvaryingmassessothelinehadaweird
curveinit.

Tennyson,Schafer,Duncan5

Conclusions
Absoluteerror= |experimental accepted|
= |7.931 9.81|
=1.879m/s^2
Relativeerror= (experimentalaccepted)

accepted
2

= 1.879m/s
9.81
19.15%
ConstantMass

AbsoluteError

RelativeError

Trial1

1.879m/s^2

19.15%

Trial2

.215m/s^2

2.19%

Trial3

.664m/s^2

6.76%

Trial4

.283m/s^2

2.88%

ConstantLength

AbsoluteError

RelativeError

Trial1

1.475m/s^2

14.7%

Tennyson,Schafer,Duncan6

Trial2

.197m/s^2

2.01%

Trial3

.697m/s^2

7.11%

Trial4

.197m/s^2

2.01%

Basedonourdataandgraphsmassdoesnthaveaneffectonthebob.Theslight
differenceintimewasmostlikelyduetoerrorinoursetup,whetherthisbedroppingtheball
wrongandpushingitslightlywithoutknowingorairresistanceslowingthebobdownbecause
weleftindentationsinthebobs.Weonlyhadonetrialthatwaslike.08soffforthedifferent
masssamelengthsegmentandthathadtohavebeenfromlikeairresistanceorsomething.The
periodsrangedfrom1.11s1.19s.Theyallseemedtobesetupalmostperfectlybecauserelative
errorwaslessthan10%.Itisimpossibletomakeaperfectsetupduetohumanerrororoutside
factorssuchasairresistance.Anotherwaywecantellthatmassisntadecidingfactorofthe
periodiswiththeequation T = 2 Lg .Itisevidentthatmassdoesntaffectperiodbecausemass

isntincludedinthevaluesneededtocalculateperiod.Massaffectstheperiodofmassspring
systemsnotpendulums.
Unlikemass,Lengthdidseemtoasubstantialeffect
ontheperiodofthebobs.Foreverylengthwegotvarying
periodsrangingfrom.55s1.34s.Lengthhavinganeffectis
shownintheperiodequationlengthlengthisavalue
neededtocalculatetheperiod T = 2 Lg .Thisshows
lengthisimportantincalculatingperiodbecauselengthis
neededtocalculateperiodwhencalculatingitfora

Tennyson,Schafer,Duncan7

pendulum.Thelengthwillaffecttheperiodbecauseifyoulookatadiagramofapendulumyou
willseethatthelongerthearmisthelongerthebobwillhavetotravel.Thisistruebecausethe
arcortheboblengthensmakingthemaximumdisplacementlonger.