Pendulum+Lab


 * Lab Title:** Pendulum Lab


 * Primary Authors:** Kerry, Jake & Jonathan


 * Abstract:** To investigate factors that affect the period of a pendulum and how those factors affect the period of the pendulum.


 * Introduction:** Pendulums are uses in many different ways and a common one that most people know of is a grandfather clock. To find out what variables affect the period, a pendulum was first needed to do this experiment. When the pendulum was ready to use, a controlled experiment was done to find out what the initial time, string length, angle of release, and hanging mass were**.** After those were found, the other variables were ready to be tested.


 * Methods:** By changing the mass of the hanging weight, the experiment could show what affect weight has on the period of a pendulum. And the same thing could be done with string length, to show what affect that has on the period. Five trials were done, and then averaged, to try and ensure the results were accurate.


 * Results:**
 * = Mass of Hanging Weight (kg) ||= Lenght of String (m) ||= Angle of Release ||= Trial 1 ||= Trial 2 ||= Trial 3 ||= Trial 4 ||= Trial 5 ||= Average ||
 * = .05 kg ||= .45 m ||= 30 ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.40 s ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.40 s ||= 1.40 s ||= 1.44 s ||
 * = .1 kg ||= .45 m ||= 30 ||= 1.31 s ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.40 s ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.442 s ||
 * = .2 kg ||= .45 m ||= 30 ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.40 s ||= 1.50 s ||= 1.48 s ||


 * = Mass of Hanging Weight (kg) ||= Length of String (m) ||= Angle of Release ||= Trial 1 ||= Trial 2 ||= Trial 3 ||= Trial 4 ||= Trial 5 ||= Average ||
 * = .1 kg ||= .354 m ||= 30 ||= 1.4 s ||= 1.5 s ||= 1.4 s ||= 1.4 s ||= 1.5 s ||= 1.44 s ||
 * = .1 kg ||= .498 m ||= 30 ||= 1.5 s ||= 1.6 s ||= 1.6 s ||= 1.6 s ||= 1.6 s ||= 1.58 s ||
 * = .1 kg ||= .528 m ||= 30 ||= 1.7 s ||= 1.6 s ||= 1.6 s ||= 1.6 s ||= 1.6 s ||= 1.62 s ||

The experiments showed that the mass of the object attached to the pendulum does not affect the period. The experiments also showed that the length of the string did change the period that the pendulum needed to make one full period. Even though not every possible variable was covered, other people found that the type of string making the pendulum doesn't matter and the angle of release did not matter.


 * Conclusion:** In the end, the results made sense because changing the mass of the weight would cause the pendulum to move faster and further in the other direction, causing the time needed in total to be the same. The angle of release also matters because changing the height changes the potential energy that can be converted to kinetic energy, making it slower overall and in the end, causing the time to be the same. The length of string allowed the mass to swing farther in both directions before the kinetic energy was completely used up, causing the time to be increased overall. Lastly, changing the material used for the string proved to not make a difference, which makes sense since all that the string did was hold up the mass, stopping it from falling.