Pendulum Variations

Earlier in the unit, we found that the most important factor in determining the period of a
pendulum is the length of the string. In your groups, design and conduct an experiment to see
how the period of a pendulum changes as you change the length of the string.
When collecting your data, organize it according to the table below.

Length of string (feet)

Period of pendulum
(seconds)

16 in

1.1

18 in

1.23

14 in

1.05

12 in

0.94

10 in

0.83

Once you have collected your data, see what you patterns you can find.
1. Sketch a graph showing the relationship between length of string and period.
2. Sketch the line that best fits the data on your graph.
3. What is the relationship that describes the line? (Hint: find an equation)

This definitely looks linear but adding in the point 0, 0 gives you

A polynomial curve.
Then adding in the data for two feet for the period of 1.4 seconds gives you

Sheets tells me that the trend line is incredibly long and undecipherable. But basicly y=-2x to the
power of 2 +-0.1x+4.7

Some graphs you might consider:

y=x
y = x2
y =
Variations of these could include:
y = 5x
y=x+1
y = 2

or y =

or y =