Kater’s Pendulum

It has sharp ends. Be extremely careful with the aparatus.

Objective : Determination of gravitational acceleration.

Apparatus : Kater’s pendulum, Stop watch, meter rule.

Figure 1: Kater’s Pendulum

Theory
Kater’s pendulum is a reversible pendulum. This is very different from a simple pendulum.
It has two knife edges: k1 and k2 , near the two ends, and has movable masses. If the time
periods: T1 and T2 about k1 and k1 , respectively, are exactly the same, then the distance
between the knife edges is the length, l, of an equivalent simple pendulum. This can
be done by adjusting the position of the movable masses. In that case we can use the
equation of a simple pendulum to find the gravitational acceleration g. The equation for
the time period of a simple pendulum is given by:

√
l
T = 2π (1)
g

But it is very difficult to find the time periods T1 and T2 to be exactly same. We will try
our best to minimize the differences between T1 and T2 .

The equation of motion of the pendulum is given by (Newton’s second law of motion in
rotaion):

I1 θ̈ = − Mgh1 sinθ (2)

1
where I1 is the moment of inertia of the pendulum about the knife edge k1 , M is the total
mass of the pendulum and h1 is distance of k1 from the center of mass of the pendulum.
The corresponding equation for the equivalent simple pendulum is:

Ml1 2 θ̈ = − Mgl1 sinθ (3)

where l1 is the length of the equivalent simple pendulum. Our problem is that we do not
know l1 . From equations (2) and (3):

I1 = Mh1 l1 (4)

Also we do not know I1 : the moment of inertia of the pendulum about the knife edge k1 .
Let us assume that the moment of inertia of the pendulum about its center of mass is Io ,
then using parallel axis theorem ( Moment of Inertia, I, of an object about an axis parallel
to the axis that passes through the center of mass is I = Io + Mh2 , where Io the moment of
inertia of the object about the axis through the center of mass, M is the total mass of the objet,
and h is the distance between the axes ),

I1 = Io + Mh1 2 (5)

Since we do not want to find the moment of inertia of the pendulum, we stop here. We
solve equations (5) and (6) to find l1 , which gives:

Io
l1 = + h1 (6)
Mh1

From which, we can calculate:

√
l1
T1 = 2π (7)
g

Similarly, we can find l2 and T2 from the other knife edge k2 , which gives:

Io
l2 = + h2 (8)
Mh2

and

√
l2
T2 = 2π (9)
g

By eliminating Io from equations (6) and (8) we get an expression for the gravitational
acceleration g, in a symmetric form

[ ] −1
T1 2 + T2 2 T 2 − T2 2
g = 8π 2 − 1 (10)
h1 + h2 h1 − h2

2
Procedure
1. Put the knife edges close to the sharp ends. Do not move those for the remaining of
the experiment. Mark those as k1 and k 2. Keep the other mass near the middle.

2. Now take the time period about k 1. Give the pendulum a slight push, so that it can
oscillate freely about k 1. Using stop watch record time for 10 complete oscillations and
find the time period T1.

3. Now hang the pendulum about k2 and find the time period T2. If T1 and T2 are very
different, then move the middle masses either up or down. Do it several times such that
T1 and T2 are close enough.

4. Take the apparatus on the table and be careful about the sharp edges. Do not move
the masses. Using a thread, find the center of mass of the pendulum and mark it.

5. Find h1 and h1, which are distances of knife edges k1 and k2 from the center of mass,
respectively.

6. Now determine the gravitational acceleration g using equation (10).

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 LAB REPORT

Name of the Experiment :

Your Name :
Your ID no. :
Name of your Partner :
Date :

4
Data

Table 1: Recording of time for 5, 10 & 15 oscillations after successive adjustments

No. of Obs. Time about knife edge k1 Time about knife edge k2
1
2
3
4
5
6

Table 2: Reading of the time periods T1 and T2 of 20 oscillations after fine

adjustment

Time periods Time periods

No. of obs. about the Mean T1 about the Mean T1
20 oscillations 20 oscillations
about k1 (T1) about k2(T1)
1
2
3

Table 3: Measurement of h1, h2 & CM (center of mass)

Reading Reading Reading Mean length Mean length

at k1 , At CM, at k2 , h1 = |a − b| h2 = |c − b|
a b c
(m) (m) (m) (m) (m)

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Result & Conclusion

Questions
1. Among the pendulums (Simple & Kater’s) which one gave you more accurate result
(value of g)?

2. Why it is necessary to make the time periods T1 & T2 equal before measuring the
distances from center of mass?