AP Lab Practical
Factors the effect the period of the pendulum
Procedures
For period vs. mass,
For period vs. length,
For period vs. amplitude,
- Find the center of mass of each mass used.
- Position each mass at same length
- Start bob at same amplitude
- Start stopwatch on tenth swing
- Time ten oscillations then divide time by ten to find the time of a period
- Repeat process ten times with ten different masses
- Record period and mass of each run in data table
For period vs. length,
- Measure the length of the pendulum
- Use the same mass and keep the amplitude constant for each run
- Start stopwatch on tenth swing
- Time ten oscillations then divide time by ten to find the time of a period
- Repeat process ten times with ten different lengths
- Record period and length of each run in data table
For period vs. amplitude,
- Measure the amplitude in the horizontal realm
- Position the bob at the same length and use the same mass for each run
- Start stopwatch on tenth swing
- Time ten oscillations then divide time by ten to find the time of a period
- Repeat process ten times with ten different amplitudes
- Record period and amplitude of each run in data table
Period vs Mass of Bob
The mass of a bob does not affect the period of the pendulum. However, from our data it appears it does. This is because we forgot to take account for the center of mass when measuring length. This means we were accidentally changing the length when we changed the mass. If we had accounted for the center of mass and the length had not changed, the graph would be a straight horizontal line.
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Period vs Length of Pendulum
The length of a pendulum increases as the period of the pendulum increases. We would expect to see a square root graph with this data because of the relation between length and period. However, we have a linear graph. This might be due to the fact that the length increments were not large enough to show this relationship.
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