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Year 10 Experiment 1 Simple Pendulum

This document provides instructions for an experiment to investigate how the period of a simple pendulum varies with its length. Students are asked to measure the period of a pendulum swinging for 20 oscillations at various lengths between 30-90cm. They will then plot a graph of length vs. period squared and determine the gradient, which according to theory is equal to g, the acceleration due to gravity. This allows them to calculate the value of g.

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Lawrence Onthuga
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541 views4 pages

Year 10 Experiment 1 Simple Pendulum

This document provides instructions for an experiment to investigate how the period of a simple pendulum varies with its length. Students are asked to measure the period of a pendulum swinging for 20 oscillations at various lengths between 30-90cm. They will then plot a graph of length vs. period squared and determine the gradient, which according to theory is equal to g, the acceleration due to gravity. This allows them to calculate the value of g.

Uploaded by

Lawrence Onthuga
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

YEAR 10 PHYSICS.

EXPERIMENT 3: INVESTIGATE THE PERIOD SIMPLE PENDULUM

NAME:……………………………………………………………DATE………….

1. In this experiment, you will investigate how the period of a simple pendulum varies with the length of the
pendulum.

Measure the length L of the pendulum of 30.0 cm. [Length should be measured from the middle of the bob]

Suspend the bob on the clamp as shown below on figure 1.1. Do not adjust the position of the clamp
throughout the experiment. Figure 1.2 shows one complete swing.

(a) Measure and record the length L of the pendulum you have

L = ……………….cm [1]

1
(b) (i) Displace the pendulum slightly and set it swinging. Measure and record the time t for 20 swings. Repeat
two more times and find average.

Time t for 20 oscillations: = …………………………..s [2]

(ii) Calculate the period, T of pendulum. [Period is the time for one swing]

Period T: = ……………s [2]

(c) Repeat steps b (i) and b (ii) for different lengths shown on the table below. Measure and record the values
of t and T in the table.
(d) Complete the column headings of the table.
(e) Complete the column of T2.

L/ t/ T/ T2 /

40

50

60

70

80

90

(f) On the grid below, plot a graph of L on the y-axis against T2 on the x-axis.
2
3
(g) Determine the gradient of your line.

4𝜋 2
(h) Theory suggest that g = 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, where g is the value of gradient. Use your gradient to calculate the value of
g.

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