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SHM Writeup

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15 views3 pages

SHM Writeup

Uploaded by

8abidmo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Moaz Abid

SHM Practical Writeup

Aim
Calculate the acceleration due to gravity of a simple pendulum

Done by varying the length and finding the time period and analysing
their relationship.

Method:
Set up apparatus as shown [1]

- Set length to 100mm (118mm including the weight at bottom). This


is the total length
- Place ruler with blue tack at edge, where the maximum
displacement shall occur, line up the weight against the ruler.
- Set timer to zero and let go plus start the timer.
- Let the weight do 10 oscillations, with 1 oscillation being the starting
point, while recording the time in seconds.
- Stop the timer after 10 oscillations and divide 10 by the time to
calculate frequency.
- Repeat by extending the string by 100mm each time, up to 518mm.
- Record your results.
Results
During the practical I made the mistake of not recording my time, and just
recorded the calculated frequency. However it was easy to recalculate
time as I did 10 oscillations everytime.

Length (mm) Oscillations Time for 10 Time for 1 Frequency


(s) squared (Hz)
(s)
518 10 14.97 2.24 0.688
418 10 12.87 1.66 0.777
318 10 11.37 1.29 0.867
218 10 9.65 0.93 1.036
118 10 7.41s 0.54 1.349

Graph:

Analysis:
Using the graph above, I got a gradient of 4.33.
Using the equation G = 4π2/gradient we get a value of g for about 9.117
m/s2.
The standard value is 9.81 but mine is not far off when taken into context
the rounding and random errors from the experiment.

Conclusion:
Overall I think my value is quite accurate compared to my peer’s work and
my own expectations from the experiment. The recorded results could
have been a lot more accurate which could’ve been done using a laser
which records time much more accurately. And also my graph could have
been a lot more accurate leading to a more closer value of 9.81.

In the future I will write down my raw results before doing any
calculations. Also I will repeat each string length 3 times and calculate the
mean which gives me a more accurate value.

References:
1.
https://www.savemyexams.com/a-level/physics/aqa/17/revision-
notes/6-further-mechanics--thermal-physics/6-2-simple-
harmonic-motion/6-2-8-required-practical-investigating-shm/

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