Simple pendulum

Question 1

What equipment should be used?

Answer 1

○ Pendulum bob on 2m long string

○ Stand and clamp

○ Pin and blu-tack

○ Metre ruler

○ Stopwatch

○ Two wooden blocks

Question 2

What method should be used?

Question 3

What graphs and calculations should be used?

Answer 3

Plot a graph of T^2 against L and draw a line of best fit. The gradient will be 4π^2 divided by g.

T = 2π √L/g ⇒ T^2 = 4π^2/g x L

Question 4

What safety precautions should be taken?

Answer 4

No notable risks

Question 5

What improvements could be done?

Answer 5

○ It is recommended to use a small pendulum bob so that it is easier to measure the length to its centre of mass. Additionally, you could measure first the length of the string and then add the radius of the bob onto this to find L.

○ The angle between the string and the downwards vertical at the maximum amplitude should be no more than about 15° for the equations to work.

○ Like the spring experiment, a motion tracker and data logger can be used