Simple Pendulum Experiment

By: Subesh Shanmugam

T=Period of the pendulum for 1 oscillation

L= Length of the pendulum

Apparatus used: Pendulum

Retort Stand
Stopwatch
String
Protector
Tape

What’s Simple pendulum experiment?

Mass is suspended at a particular angle from a string (length, l). The string is connected to a
retort stand. The objective of the experiment is to find the time taken (second, s) for 20
oscillations to occur at different lengths of the string.

Procedure
Mass was connected by tying knots to a string and so was the retort stand. A protector was
stacked using a tape on the retort stand where the angle of 90* was exactly facing the
string. The pendulum was released from 90*. Stopwatch was used to measure the time
taken(s) for 20 oscillations (a back and forth movement of pendulum to the particular
angle). A metre ruler was used to measure length of the string where five different length of
the string were used. The experiment was repeated for three times.

Data
Upon finishing the experiment, the data of the experiment was constructed into a table.
Time taken for one oscillation (period) was calculated by getting the average number of time
taken and dividing the value by 3 times (because the experiment was repeated three
times).Using, the average time taken divide it by 20 because of the number of oscillation
was 20.The period was then used to find the value of T^2(S^2) by substituting period into T.

The Table
Time taken for 20 oscillations (S)
Trials
Length,l (cm) 1 2 3 T/1 osc (s) T^2(S^2)
49 23 24 23 1.17 1.37
37.5 22 21 21 1.07 1.14
26.5 20 21 21 1.03 1.06
12 19 20 19 0.97 0.94
5 17 18 18 0.88 0.77

After completing the table, a graph was drawn where the y-axis was T^2(S^2) against X-axis
was l(cm). Using the graph, gradient was calculated which was 1.36 (s^2)/m. The formula for
finding the gradient is (y2-y1)/(x2-x1).

The Graph
Discussion and Conclusion
The Theoretical value of g was 29 ms^-2 which is 96.55% higher than experimental value.
The major drawback of the experiment was that the change in length of the string wasn’t
constant thus which may have varied the results of the experiment. The experiment should
have conducted at 5 times to get a reliable average value of T^2 (S^2). The protector should
have taped more precisely to the string and the retort stand because the release of
pendulum at an angle of 90* was changed resulting in different values of oscillations. If the
experiment is repeated again, then the changes would be having 10 oscillations rather than
20 because it will be quicker and easier to conduct and have a constant different change to
the string.