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Simple Harmonic Motion Lab Analysis

The lab focused on determining gravitational acceleration 'g' through pendulum experiments, revealing unexpected data inconsistencies when increasing pendulum length, yet remaining within acceptable error limits. It was confirmed that mass does not affect the period of a pendulum, as consistent periods were observed across different masses. Additionally, experiments showed that accuracy declines significantly when the pendulum angle exceeds 15 degrees, and air resistance was found to cause a 15% loss in oscillation time over 150 seconds.

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6 views5 pages

Simple Harmonic Motion Lab Analysis

The lab focused on determining gravitational acceleration 'g' through pendulum experiments, revealing unexpected data inconsistencies when increasing pendulum length, yet remaining within acceptable error limits. It was confirmed that mass does not affect the period of a pendulum, as consistent periods were observed across different masses. Additionally, experiments showed that accuracy declines significantly when the pendulum angle exceeds 15 degrees, and air resistance was found to cause a 15% loss in oscillation time over 150 seconds.

Uploaded by

daltonch615
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Simple Harmonic Motion Lab

Determining “g”
Step 1. Tp=2π 𝑙/𝑔

Step 2. “g”=L/(Tp/2π)2

Step 3. “g”=4π2L/Tp2
In summary
To determine “g” we used a photo gate to measure the time between
oscillations throughout our experiments, we maintained consistent
variables throughout all 12 trials. However, as we progressively increased
the pendulum length, we observed an unexpected slight breakdown in our
initial data consistency. This alteration appeared to influence the
gravitational measurements, resulting in an apparent increase in gravity
that we had not anticipated. However, the data was still with the 10 percent
error acceptable for the experiment.

“Determining How Mass Affects Period”


Pendulum

Summary

To confirm that mass does not affect the period of a pendulum, we


conducted three trials using three different masses: small, medium, and
large. Throughout the experiments, we kept the angle and length of the
pendulum constant. Our data demonstrated that mass does not impact the
period, as the gravitational acceleration remained constant. Therefore, the
periods remained consistent, as determined by the equation on the
previous page for calculating “g”. The varying in the g shows a strong
residual due to errors in keeping all the different variables constant.
Trials exceeding 15 Degrees

Summary
To validate the claim that data will become less accurate if the pendulum
exceeds 15 degrees, we experimented while keeping the length of the
pendulum and the mass of the object constant. The only variable we
adjusted was the angle from which we dropped the pendulum.

The data revealed that even at 20 degrees, there is approximately a 0.15


m/s² difference in the calculated gravitational acceleration. As we increased
the angle from 20 to 40 and then to 60 degrees, the calculated gravity
continued to decrease exponentially, reaching only about 90% of the initial
accuracy. This demonstrates that beyond 15 degrees, there is a significant
decline in the accuracy of data obtained using the period equation for
pendulums.
Air resistance
(Damping)

To calculate the damping that affected our pendulum we performed an


experiment were we measured how many oscillations occurred every 30
seconds and recorded our observations. The data proved that the
pendulum loses 15 percent of the time between each revolution over 150
seconds due to air resistance, Friction, and Thermal energy loss. If you
divide the 15 percent by the total time of 150 seconds you get an average
loss of about 0.1% of the period per oscillation.

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