Practical 2: Investigating the Universe - Gravity

Aim:
To calculate the acceleration due to gravity using a simple
pendulum.

Brief experimentation:
Using the stopwatch to time the swing of the pendulum can you
answer the following two questions:

1. What happens to the length of time for 1 swing if you change

the length of the pendulum?

2. What happens to the length of time for 1 swing if you

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Background:
If you drop an object it will always fall at the same rate no matter how heavy it feels. This means
that if we drop a heavy object and a light object from the same height they will land at the same
time (if they are not affected by air resistance or wind).
The rate at which objects fall to the surface of the Earth is known as, g, the acceleration due to
gravity. We will use a simple pendulum to find a value for g.
The time of the pendulums swing, or its period T, depends on the length of the string and the
acceleration due to gravity, g

2 4S 2
T L
g
where T, is the time for one swing (that is once in both directions left & right or right & left), L, is the
length of the pendulum, S = 3.14159 and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
If we experiment with changing the length of the pendulum and timing its swing we can plot a
graph of L against T2.

If we compare T2 slope u L  intercept

The slope or gradient of this graph is then equal to ________________________.
The intercept of this graph (where the line crosses the y-axis) should be =

Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright, Cavendish Laboratory 10 December 2010

Experiment:
Our simple pendulum is made of a weight on the end of a string hung from a clamp
stand.

Task: L
In pairs you are going to time how long it takes for the pendulum to complete a
swing (from one side to the other and back again). This is known as the
period of the pendulum which we give the label, T.
What happens if you make the string shorter or longer?
What happens to the period, T, if you make the angle of the swing larger?
To improve the accuracy of our experiment you will make 2 timings for 5 swings for different
lengths of string and put each of your results into the table (like that below) on the computer.

Average Average
Length of 1. Timing for 2. Timing for Period
Timing for 5 Timing for 1
String 5 swings 5 swings Squared
swings swing.
L (m) T1 T2 T2
T3 =(T1+T2)/2 T = T3/5

0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40

Results & Analysis:

Now we are going to plot a graph of T2 (the time for one swing squared) against the length of the
string, L. using the computers and an excel spreadsheet
What do you notice about the points that you have plotted on your graph?

Task:
Using excel we will fit a straight line through the points that is a `best fit; to the data called a
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1. Calculate the gradient of your best fit line (see graph example below),

Slope = gradient = Height of your triangle = __________________________________

Base of your triangle

Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright, Cavendish Laboratory 11 December 2010

2. Use excel to find out the equation of your line and compare the equation with the slope you
calculated above

0.6

0.5
Length of String, L (m)

0.4

0.3 Height

0.2
Base

0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Period Squared, T 2 (s2)

Conclusions:

The slope of your line is going to help us to calculate the acceleration due to gravity.
Slope = ʌ2 = ʌ2
acceleration due to gravity, g g

So, g = ʌ2 = ___________________

slope

My experiment measured g = __________________m s-2.

Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright, Cavendish Laboratory 12 December 2010