Name ______Date ______Per ______
Pendulums!
Purpose:
To investigate the motion of a pendulum and determine what affects its rate of swing.
Hypothesis
Write an “If….then….” statement about how you would manipulate the length of string, mass, and pullback angle to make a pendulum have a long period (swing time) of a pendulum.
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Procedure:
1. Go to the Pendulum website on the useful sites of my website.
Part one: Length of String
2. Set the length of the string to 0.5 m and the mass to 1.0 kg.
3. The friction should be at “none,” you should be on Earth and in real time.
4. Check off Photogate Timer.
5. Click the start button on the photogate timer.
6. Pull the pendulum back 20 degrees and release.
7. When the pendulum has completed a full period, it will record the time.
8. Record the time in the data table.
9. Complete the data table by changing the length of the string accordingly (all other settings should remain the same).
Part two: Mass of Bob
10. Set the length of the string to 1.5 meters.
11. Set the mass to 1.0 kg.
12. Start the photogate timer
13. Pull back the pendulum to 20 degrees and release.
14. Record the time in your data table.
15. Complete data table 2 by changing the mass accordingly (all other settings should remain the same).
Part three: Pullback Angle
16. Set the length of the string to 1.5 meters
17. Set the mass to 1.0 kg.
18. Start the photogate timer
19. Pull back the pendulum to 25 degrees and release.
20. Record the time in data table 3.
21. Complete data table 3 by changing the pull back angle accordingly (all other settings should remain the same).
Analysis:
1. Describe how the pullback angle affected the period of the pendulum.
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2. Describe how increasing the mass affected the period of the pendulum.
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3. Describe how increasing the length of the string affected the period of the pendulum.
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4. At what point in the swing did the pendulum have the greatest potential energy?
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5. At what point in the swing did the pendulum have the greatest kinetic energy?
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Conclusion
The conclusion section needs to have five sentences:
1st sentence: Repeat the objective
2nd sentence: Tell how you achieved the purpose.
3rd sentence: State your hypothesis and USE EVIDENCE FROM YOUR DATA to explain if it was it correct or not and why.
4th sentence: Share what you learned.
5th sentence: This is a general summary of the lab. It ties into the first sentence of the purpose.
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Length of String / Time for full period (sec)0.5 m
1.0 m
1.5 m
2.0 m
2.5 m
Data Table 1
Data Table 2
Mass (kg) / Time for full period (sec)1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
Data Table 3
Pullback Angle / Time for full period (sec)25 Degrees
30 Degrees
35 Degrees
40 Degrees
45 Degrees