Materials Needed For Galileos Pendulum Lab

Yard stick
Metal Bob (nut)
Twine (at least 70cm worth)
Weight (backpack will work as a good weight)
Pencil
Paper

Introduction

Galileos pendulum was very important because it was the only device that could tell time
back when Galileo was alive. Later on, using his idea some scientists saw how it worked like a
time teller and they made an early version of the modern clock. In the present time we now know
they were not only useful for telling time but Galileo had not only invented a machine that could
tell time, but he had created a device that was used for navigation on all seafaring vessels. So
when Galileo discovered the pendulum, not only did he change the way we see time but he
changed the way all ships would travel for years to come.

Methods
We set up a metal rod and held over a table about halfway and then held it down with our
backpacks and textbooks. We tied a string (66cm long) to the end of the rod and then tied a metal
bob to the end of the string. We then held yard sticks on either side of the rod, to measure the
start and end heights. We dropped the bob from start heights 30, 50, and 70cm, then when the
pendulum swung to the other yard stick we measured its apex and recorded it on our data sheet.

Analysis
Our results showed what I expected; as we increased the height of the bob drop the
weight had a wider swing. And if it had a swing from a lower height like 30 cm it wouldnt have
swung as far. It kept doing that as we moved up through the 30, 50, and 70 cm drops.

Conclusion
Our hypothesis supports our results; it stated that if the drop height was higher the swing
would go farther and if the drop height was lower than the swing would go farther. This is
exactly what happened in the actual experiment. For example when we dropped it from 30cm it
averaged around a 25 cm end height, but when we dropped it from a 70cm start height we
recorded an average of about 63cm thus when the drop height is higher the end height will be
higher. One error that I think we made is that the measurement for the end height of the bob was
a little off. Because my lab partner was only measuring the end height of the bob by sight it was
not a completely correct measurement. We could eliminate that by finding some way to measure
it correctly, like if we held out a pencil when the bob reached its apex to stop the string from
falling back again, then we could find a more accurate measurement.