PENDULUM PERIODS

AND GRAVITATIONAL
ACCELERATION

0
4/2/2020
Table of Contents
List of Figures...................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
List of Apparatus..............................................................................................................................5
Health and Safety.............................................................................................................................5
Method............................................................................................................................................5
Results Section.................................................................................................................................6
A) Measurement Tables............................................................................................................................. 6
B) Graph..................................................................................................................................................... 7
C) Final Calculations................................................................................................................................... 7

Discussion........................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................9
References.......................................................................................................................................9

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Diagram for Pendulum's Motion.......................................................................................................... 3
Figure 2: 2D Model of Simple Pendulum............................................................................................................ 6

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Introduction
The experimental study of the motion with simple pendulum is good. It gave an ideas for
calculation of gravitational force. The key varaible in the experiment is the pendulum length
and period and angle of swing. The other variable are gravitational acceleration and mass of
Earth. The period was the time taken to complete one swing. The gravitational acceleration is
the force on the weight of the body[ CITATION Qui13 \l 1033 ].

A pendulum is shown the configuration in Figure 1(a). The mass of the pendulum moved from
its initial position. It moved with a restoring force acts on it. This force bring the pendulum to its
equilibrium position.

Figure 1: Diagram for Pendulum's Motion

It is said the direction of restoring force is opposite to pendulum motion. It is represented by

the expression[ CITATION Jam00 \l 1033 ].

F  kx (0)
The period of pendulum is calculated using the equation for simple harmonic motion:

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 m
T  2 (0)
k
This equation satisfied when the swing angle is small. The motion of pendulum is harmonic
motion. In Figure 1(b) mass m is hanged with a string of length l.

The mass is moved from its equilibrium position by θ. It moves a distance of x. The force on the
mass has two components Figure 1(c). The restoring force of pendulum is

F   mg sin θ (0)
swing angle θ is small the restoring force is

F   mgθ (0)
The arc length is with pendulum length and swing angle equation.

x  lθ (0)
x
F   mg (0)
l
The value of constant k is

mg
k (0)
l
The period is given by

m l
T  2  2 (0)
mg l g
The gravitational acceleration is
2
 2 
g   l (0)
 T 
The gravitational acceleration of earth will give mass of earth. The mass of earth is in relation
with gravitational force. The gravitational constant G = 6.674×10−11 m3⋅kg−1⋅s−2 is described by
Newton law of gravity

Mm
Fg  G  mg (0)
r2
Here,

M = Mass of Earth

m = mass of the object on Earth surface

r = Radius of earth = 6,378 km

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The radius can be measured from many methods. Like measuring the length. Angle of shadows
at locations on earth.

gr 2
M  (0)
G
The experiment value of period is to be 1.641s. The gravitational acceleration with pendulum is
11.6751m/s2. The calculated mass of earth obtained from the gravity formula 7.0799×1024kg.

Two experiments were done in lab. The first experiment is find the pendulum period when
length is fixed. The swing angle is varied from 10° to 50° with 10°. The second experiment is
calculating the mass of earth. It is calculated from acceleration. The swing angle is kept
constant and length is varied.

The gravitational acceleration of each length is used to evaluate mass of earth.

List of Apparatus
The equipment used in the lab experiment is down.

 String
 Tape Measure
 G-Clamp
 Clamping Bung
 Timer/Stop Watch
 Small Mass/Bob
 Clamp Stand
 Protractor

Health and Safety

 We used solid pendulum for safety from any bending in its structure.
 The length of pendulum in close way to remove any error.
 Pendulum is built with smooth components. They give safety for injuries.
 The pendulum is oscillate in horizontal plane.
 The pendulum has strong suspension quality because loose suspension creates error.

Method
The experiment is started by building a pendulum model.

 First, the clamp stand is placed by me. The pendulum is in vertical position.

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 G-clamp closes the stand with bench.
 Gripped the clamping bung with the clamp stand.
 A string of length was used.
 The string joined pendulum mass and clamp.
 The length of string is set to 70cm. Pendulum length is between joining point of string to
center of the mass[ CITATION EXP \l 1033 ].
 The protractor is attached with nut by student.
 The practical started by moving the string by 10 degrees.
 The angle shift was measured with protractor.
 After the string shift the pendulum moves. The stop watch is started for ten oscillations.
 The period is find from stop watch time.
 The procedure is done again with swing angle of 20, 30, 40 and 50 degrees.
 The second experiment is done with different string length.
 The swing angle constant at 30°.
 Measurements of period are done for pendulum lengths of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50cm.
 Period of each pendulum length is calculated.
 Determined gravitational acceleration and mass of earth by using equations (0) & (0).

A two-dimensional model of pendulum model is developed.

Figure 2: 2D Model of Simple Pendulum

Results Section
The results section give the recorded measurements. The readings are given in tables and
graphs. The graphs are plotted with independent and dependent variables. The acceleration is
found from graph slope

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A) Measurement Tables
The recorded data of swing angle and time is given in table.

Initial Amplitude, θ Stopwatch Timer (sec) Time Period, T (sec)

10° 15.73 1.573
20° 16.19 1.619
30° 16.35 1.635
40° 16.79 1.679
50° 16.99 1.699

The measured and calculated values are placed.

Pendulum Length, L Time Period, T Gravitational Acceleration, g Mass (kg)

(cm) (sec) (m/s2)
10 0.625 10.106 6.159×1024
20 0.888 10.013 6.103×1024
30 1.086 10.042 6.121×1024
40 1.246 10.171 6.199×1024
50 1.399 10.085 6.147×1024
B) Graph
A graph between T2 and L is plotted and its slope is used to find the g.

T2 Versus Length
250.0

200.0
f(x) = 3.9 x + 0.45
T2 (centi-sec2)

150.0

100.0

50.0

0.0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Length (cm)

C) Final Calculations
The slope of the graph is used to find g [ CITATION Suw18 \l 1033 ]

m  3.8971 s 2 /m

The gravitational acceleration is

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  2 
2

g
m

 2 
2

g  11.6157m/s 2
3.39871

Discussion
The measurements is used to calculate the gravitational acceleration and Earth mass. The time
for complete of ten cycles is converted into period of pendulum. The period of the length of
pendulum is used to calculate the g. The values of period and length give the gravitational
acceleration.

The graph of square of period T 2 and length of pendulum L was plotted. The gradient of this
graph gave the gravitational acceleration. The gravitational acceleration is find from
4π2/gradient.

The graph T2 versus L is a straight-line. It suggests the linear relationship between these
quantities. The outliers are not present. But the readings of period have some error.

The error in the data is divided in. It is random error, human error and systematic error.

The results are compared with published readings. The error in g is 18.52% and error in earth
mass is 18.53%.

When method of experiment is done the results can improve. It is done with better technique.
Like using more data for independent variable for one independent variable. This reduces the
random error in readings.

The range of measurement lies between 10.013 and 10.171m/s 2 for g. The period is in 0.625sec
and 1.399sec. The values of earth mass in the interval 6.199×1024 − 6.103×1024kg.

The errors are introduced from human. This error comes when recording the time with
stopwatch. The random error is added from air resistance in movement of pendulum. The
systematic error is from faulty equipment like timer[ CITATION Seb \l 1033 ].

The equipment is made better with string of lowest mass. This string faces minimum air
resistance. The timing equipment will be made digital. It improves tracking the movement of
pendulum. The lab room fan should be switched off.

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The experiment can be improved by closing the pendulum in body. This removes noise from air.
Pendulum is designed for changes like bending in high temperature. The timing circuit can be
improved by using infrared timers.

Conclusion
This experiment is conducted for pendulum period and Erath mass calculation. The experiments
confirm the period is constant with change in swing angle. The Earth mass is calculated with the
gravitational acceleration of pendulum. The mass of Earth is same to published data of mass.
The experiment is further extended effect of bob mass period. The relationship between mass
and g can be found. The accuracy and reliability is improved with using the strings and bob of
different materials.

References
x

1. Nethercott QT, Walton ME. Determining the Acceleration Due to Gravity. [Online].; 2013. Available from:
http://www.physics.utah.edu/~ewalton/lab_report.pdf.

2. Parks JE. The Simple Pendulum. [Online].; 2000. Available from:

http://www.phys.utk.edu/labs/simplependulum.pdf.

3. EXPLORABLE. Pendulum Experiment. [Online]. Available from: https://explorable.com/pendulum-

experiment.

4. Suwanpayak N, Sutthiyan S, Kulsirirat K, Srisongkram P, Teeka C, Buranasiri P. A comparison of gravitational

acceleration measurement methods for undergraduate experiment. In IOP Publishing; 2018.

5. King S. Pendulum Experiment. [Online]. Available from: https://prezi.com/w9toslysyvct/pendulum-

experiment/.

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