Abigail Proctor 4a2

Title: Simple Pendulum SBA

Aim: To investigate the relationship between length and period

of a pendulum.

Hypothesis: As the length of the pendulum decreases so will the

time taken to complete one period.

Materials:
● Pendulum Bob
● Meter Ruler
● Retort Stand
● String
● Set Square
● Stopwatch

Diagram 1: Apparatus Used to Create a Simple Pendulum

Variables:
Manipulated: The Length of the Pendulum.
Responding: The Period of one Oscillation.
Controlled: The Angle at which the Pendulum swung.

Procedure:
1. One end of the string was tied to the arm of the retort stand.
2. The other end was tied to Pendulum bob and measured to
ensure the length of the pendulum was 80 cm.
3. Using a Ruler and set square the pendulum was set at a 45-
degree angle and then let go to swing.
4. The time taken for the pendulum to make twenty
oscillations called was t1was recorded using a stopwatch
and this was repeated for accuracy. The values of the
repeated tests were called t2.
5. Steps three and four were repeated with the length of the
pendulum decreasing by 10 until the pendulum’s length
was 10 cm.
6. The t1 and t2 values were averaged in order to be used as
more accurate value in calculations.
7. The results were placed in a graph and the graph and its
data was analysed to form conclusions.
Results:

Time Taken To Complete

Length Of Period (s)
20 Oscillations (s)
Pendulum
Period
(cm) t1 t2 tavg Period/T
Squared/T2
80 36.38 36.27 36.33 1.82 3.3
70 34.83 34.16 34.50 1.72 3.0
60 31.82 32.44 32.13 1.61 2.6
50 28.77 27.33 28.05 1.40 2.0
40 25.96 25.94 25.95 1.30 1.7
30 22.57 22.45 22.51 1.13 1.3
20 18.77 18.53 18.65 0.93 0.9
10 13.20 13.40 13.30 0.67 0.4

Note:
 tavg was calculated to two (2) decimal places.

 The period for one oscillation symbolled by T was

calculated to two (2) decimal places.

 The squares of the periods symbolled by T2 were o to one

(1) decimal place.
Calculations:

1. tavg is the average of amount of time taken for the pendulum

to oscillate twenty times. It calculated using t1 (time taken
on trial 1) and t2 (time taken on trial 2).

t 1 +t 2
t avg= (rounded¿2 decimal places)
2

2. The Period is the time taken to complete one oscillation.

Since tavg is the average time taken to complete 20
oscillations value for each pendulum length was divided by
20.
t avg
T= (rounded ¿2 decimial places)
20

3. The Squares of the Period were calculated by multiplying

the value of one period by itself.

T 2=T ×T (rounded ¿1 decimal place)

Discussion/Data Analysis:
A pendulum is a body suspended from a pivot so as to swing
freely to and fro under the action of gravity. When a pendulum
is displaced from its resting or equilibrium position it accelerates
towards its equilibrium position.

The acceleration due to gravity at the surface of Earth is

represented by the letter g and has a standard value defined as
9.8 m/s2.

We can calculate acceleration due to gravity based on the

gradient of our graph. Gradient is calculated using the change in
value of the quantity on the y axis (Square Periods) divided by
the quantity on the x axis (Length of the Pendulum).

Δy
Gradient of the line=
Δx

3.3−1.5 1.8
∴ Gradient= = =0.04
80−35 45

g= ( 4 π 2 ) ÷ 100× gradient
g=39.4384 ÷(100 ×0.04)
g=39.4384 ÷ 4.0=9.8596

The time taken for a pendulum to swing from one direction then
back to its original position is called a Period (T). The graph
shows that as length decreases the square periods (T2) also
decrease which means that periods are directly proportional to
the length of the pendulum.

Using the data above we can determine a formula which would

relate square periods (T2) and Pendulum Length.

T 2=gradient × Pendulum Length

T 2=0.04 × 80
T 2=3.2 seconds
Or
T =√ gradient × Pendulum Length
T =√ 0.04 ×80
T ≈ 1.8 seconds

The data produced from this experiment show the hypothesis to

be true; Pendulum Length is directly proportional to the square
periods (T2) of a pendulum.

Conclusion: To conclude, the period and length of a pendulum

are directly proportional to each other. If the length of the
pendulum decreases, the period of oscillation also decreases.

Precaution:
● To ensure accuracy the time taken to make twenty
oscillations was recorded twice then divided by twenty to
get a single oscillation.
● To ensure accuracy of the data the swing of the pendulum
was made at the same angle each time. This was done using
 a set square.

Sources of Error/ Limitations:

● Wind may have shifted the pendulum.

● Parallax errors may have altered the angle at which the
pendulum swung.
● The Rounding of values may have caused the calculations
to not be as accurate.
● The table the pendulum rested on was noticed to be
unlevelled.