Alvarez+lab+16

Procedure: In this lab we studied simple harmonic motion with a pendulum that consisted of a high tech string with a high tech weight on the end. We had to find 3 main things 1 The relationship between mass and period of a pendulum 2 The relationship between amplitude (angle) and period of a pendulum 3 The relastionship beween length and period of a pendulum

We set up our pedulum by first measuring out a little more than 1 meter of string and then tied one end to the board and the other to the weight. This allowed the weight to hang freely. We would swing the pendulum and measure how long it took to come back to the original starting place 10 times.

Throughout the lab we changed many things in the first part we changed mass so we started at 50 g and went up on 20 g intervals

we also changed amplitude which made us change the angle in which we started swinging the pendulum this was found by using a protractor to find 10 degrees and up to 50 degrees going up 10 degree intervals.

we also changed the length of the string by making it shorter than 100 cm, we started at 100 cm and then went to 60 cm in 10 cm intervals.

Since the slope of the line of best fit between mass and period is only .001, that means that the varying the mass of a pendulum does not affect its period.
 * Mass (g) || Time (s) || Angle (degrees) || String Length (m) ||
 * 50 || 21.0 || 37 || 1 ||
 * 70 || 20.3 || 37 || 1 ||
 * 90 || 20.6 || 37 || 1 ||
 * 110 || 20.5 || 37 || 1 ||
 * 130 || 20.2 || 37 || 1 ||

The relationship between the angle and period of a pendulum is shown by the slope of the line of best fit which is .016, which shows that varying the angle or amplitude in which the pendulum starts at does not affect its period.
 * Mass (g) || Time (s) || Angle (degrees) || String length (m) ||
 * 50 || 20.1 || 10 || 1 ||
 * 50 || 20.1 || 20 || 1 ||
 * 50 || 20.4 || 30 || 1 ||
 * 50 || 20.2 || 40 || 1 ||
 * 50 || 20.6 || 50 || 1 ||

The relationship between the length and the period of a pendulum is shown by the slope of the line of best fit which is -.1382. This shows that as the length of the string decreases the period of the pendulum decreases as well.
 * Mass (g) || Period (s) || Angle (degrees) || Length (cm) ||
 * 50 || 19.4 || 37 || 90 ||
 * 50 || 18.35 || 37 || 80 ||
 * 50 || 16.5 || 37 || 70 ||
 * 50 || 15.29 || 37 || 60 ||
 * 50 || 20.5 || 37 || 100 ||

Analysis: In this section we studied the relationship between mass, amplitude, and length of string vs. period. The equation for a pendulum to find the period is P = 2π(L/g)^½. Here it shows that if either the gravitation force or the length of the pendulum was changed, then the period would changed. Since objects of different mass will fall at the same speed (neglecting air resistance) that would mean that mass has no affect on the period of a pendulum which was supported by the results that were acquired. Also since the energy given to make the pendulum move is gravitation energy and gravitation energy is relatively constant that would mean if we changed the amplitude we change how far the pendulum has to move but it also has more room for acceleration which balances out and gives us the same period. The equation give supported that if we changed the mass, the period would change as well.