Period and Frequency

in Oscillations
By: Aykan Yunus
Lab Report(2)
Purpose(aim)

Aim - is to study the dependence of period of

simple pendulum on its length on mass.
 Theory
A simple pendulum is a weight suspended by a string or
rod so that it is allowed to swing freely. When the weight
is swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted
rhythm, it is oscillating. The path from the equilibrium
position (see diagram) to the point B, to the point A, and
back to the equilibrium positing is called an oscillation.
In a pendulum motion, the energy of the bob is
transferred between potential and kinetic energy. At the
points A and B the bob has the most potential energy and
no kinetic energy, but the energy is then steadily
transferred to kinetic energy until the bob reaches the
equilibrium position where it has the most kinetic energy
and no potential energy.

Therefore the motion of a simple pendulum is called a

simple harmonic motion.
 How we did this experiment.
 (In this experiment we used several tools.)
 Inextensible string-(to hang bob)
 Steel weight-(to measure the mass of bob)
 Stopwatch
 Ruler-(to measure the length of the inextensible string)
 Stand-(to hang a inextensible string with a bob)
How we did this experiment(2)

 The experiment was conducted by varying lengths (L) of the pendulum. A

pendulum executes periodic motion. A periodic motion is that which repeats
after regular intervals of time. Hence, the time period of a simple pendulum
is determined by the formula:
 T=2п√L/g or T(period)=t(sec)/N(# of vibrations)
 Also formula for Frequency - F=1/T(period)
Procedure
First, we assembled the simple pendulum.We did same
experiment with 40N(vibrations) and Length-
0.965(metres) 3 times.Totaly 9 experiments.Here is the
table of experimets.

N(# of Time T Frequency Length Mass

vibrations) (seconds) (period) (Hz) (metres) (kg)
40 78.09 ~1.97 ~0.51 0.965 45.7
40 78.67 ~1.97 ~0.51 0.965 45.7
40 78.55 ~1.97 ~0.51 0.965 45.7
40 72.87 ~1.77 ~0.56 0.781 45.7
40 71.36 ~1.77 ~0.56 0.781 45.7
40 71.25 ~1.77 ~0.56 0.781 45.7
40 66.69 ~1.66 ~0.60 0.684 139.8
40 66.80 ~1.66 ~0.60 0.684 139.8
40 66.86 ~1.66 ~0.60 0.684 139.8
 Conclusion (result)
 There are many factors which could have influenced our results. First of all,
the length of the string might have varied slightly, either because of
inaccurate measurement or any stretch which might have lengthened the
string. The angle which the pendulum was dropped from might also have
varied slightly, and the pendulum did most likely not swing in perfect simple
harmonic motion the entire time. The time is also likely to not have been
measured perfectly, as it is very difficult to start and stop the timer at
precisely the right moment. A negligible difference might have been caused
by rounding off numbers to fewer decimals in the data and calculations, and
friction and air resistance slowing the pendulum down.
Conclusion(2)

 The period of a simple pendulum is independent of the amplitude of

oscillation, provided it is small. The period of a simple pendulum is directly
proportional to the square root of length of the pendulum. The period of
a simple pendulum is inversely proportional to the square root of the
acceleration due to gravity. This result is interesting because of its simplicity.
The only things that affect the period of a simple pendulum are its length and
the acceleration due to gravity. The period is completely independent of
other factors, such as mass.
 Mass no no no!!!