complete/2 Design Defining problem Controlling variables Method Recording raw data Processing raw data Presenting processed

data Concluding Evaluating procedure Improvements

partial/1 not at all/0

TOTAL

Data collection and processing Conclusion and evaluation

The table below shows 8 different lengths and 5 measurements for each of them. The uncertainty in length is a half of the smallest division of pendulums scale (0.01m) The Average time and the Average Time Uncertainty were calculated from two formulas:

1.Average time (s) =

=
= 19.47 s

2. Average time uncertainty = = = 0.07 =

There werent any obviously wrong values obtained during the whole experiment

Length (m) 0.90 0.70 0.65 0.60 0.55 0.50 0.30 0.15 0.01m

1 19.40 17.20 16.81 16.35 15.35 14.28 11.27 8.73

Time for 10 oscillations (s) 2 3 4 19.48 19.54 19.50 17.04 16.88 17.72 17.04 16.28 16.51 15.96 16.22 15.82 15.27 15.18 15.11 14.53 14.77 15.01 11.27 11.27 11.28 8.77 8.79 9.43 0.01s

5 19.42 17.55 16.57 16.22 15.03 14.26 11.26 8.90

Av time & Av time uncertainty 19.47 0.07 17.28 0.42 16.64 0.38 16.11 0.20 15.19 0.12 14.57 0.37 11.27 0.01 8.92 0.38 0.1s

To make the below Processed Data table I used formulas such as: 1. Time for one oscillation (Time period) (s) = = 1.95 s 2. Time for one swing (T) = 2 After a transformation of the above formula I get the new one which allowed me to count the acceleration due to gravity which is: 3. =

= 9.34 ms-2

4. Gravity uncertainty (for every gravity measurement) =

) x 9.34 = 0.58

9.34 0.58= 9.34 1

Av time & Av time uncertainty 19.47 0.07 17.28 0.42 16.64 0.38 16.11 0.20 15.19 0.12 14.57 0.37 11.27 0.01 8.92 0.38 0.1s

Time period (s) 1.95 1.73 1.66 1.61 1.52 1.46 1.13 0.89 0.1s

acceleration due to gravity (ms-2), and gravity uncertainty 9.34 1 9.23 1 9.31 2 9.14 1 9.40 1 9.26 2 9.28 1 7.48 2 1 (ms-2)

There are two additional things I counted, and these are: 5. Average of gravity = = 9.06 6. Average of uncertainties =
= 1.375 = 1

=
9.06 1

7. Percent error = = = 7.65

x 100% =

x 100% =

Graph of Time (s) versus Length (m)

Graph of Time2 (s2) versus Length (m)

Conclusion
Generally the experiment was conducted with minimum errors and also with the compliance to the procedure. As the length of a string decreased, the time period also decreased because of the increase of velocity. The value for gravity was calculated to be 9.06 1 (ms-2) and the percentage error is 7.65 % according to the theoretical (real) value. However if the measurements for 0.15m length hadnt been made the percentage error would have been 5.40% which would make the experiment very accurate.

Evaluation
Percentage error is very small taking to consideration that the pendulum which was used to make an experiment was unstable and it wasnt accurate at all. The table on which the pendulum was placed was shaking every time I made measurements. Despite that, all measurements are quite accurate especially because of a good stopwatch. After every change of strings length, this controlled variable was kept constant. No changes were made during the particular measurement. For every single length I made 5 measurements, so that gave me a total of 400 swings. The time which I had been given for the whole experiment was about 90 minutes, so I didnt have to hurry. In fact, because of a lot of time, I made additional 10 measurements for 2 string lengths just to be certain and to make the whole experiment more accurate. Measurements of the single length (15cm) are very inaccurate comparing to the others and the actual gravity value. This is caused by too short length of string. Random uncertainties could be reduced to, almost, 0 by repeating the measurements more times using more length varieties. The air resistance could be a problem if I would have used greater angles and heights to additional measurements, so lighter and smaller ball would be essential to make the whole experiment more precise.

Improving the investigation The whole experiment was made using a very accurate stopwatch and the pendulum which, unfortunately, was placed on an unstable and crooked table. Because of that, some measurements were not as accurate as they should have been. I was given 90 minutes for the experiment, which is a lot of time, but I didnt think that additional (despite 2 new ones) measurements would make the experiment more certain considering the unstable surface. I guess that if the pendulum was placed on better area the experiment would have given me very accurate results.