PENDULUM PERIODS

AND GRAVITATIONAL
ACCELERATION

0
4/2/2020
Table of Contents
List of Figures...................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
List of Apparatus..............................................................................................................................5
Health and Safety.............................................................................................................................5
Method............................................................................................................................................6
Results Section.................................................................................................................................7
A) Measurement Tables............................................................................................................................. 7
B) Graph..................................................................................................................................................... 7
C) Final Calculations................................................................................................................................... 8

Discussion........................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................9
References.......................................................................................................................................9

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Diagram Illustration for Pendulum's Motion........................................................................................ 2
Figure 2: 2D Model of Simple Pendulum............................................................................................................ 5

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Introduction
The experimental study of the vibrational motion with simple pendulum is good. It gives an
ideas for calculation of gravitational force students. The key varaible in the experiment is the
pendulum length and period and angle of swing. The other variable are gravitational
acceleration and mass of Earth. The period is the time taken to complete one swing. The
gravitational acceleration is the force on the weight of the body[ CITATION Qui13 \l 1033 ].

A pendulum is shown the configuration in Figure 1(a). The mass of the pendulum is moved from
its initial position. It moves with a restoring force acts on it. This force brings the pendulum to
its equilibrium position.

Figure 1: Diagram Illustration for Pendulum's Motion

Therefore, it can be said that the direction of restoring force is opposite to the motion of a
pendulum and it is represented by the given expression[ CITATION Jam00 \l 1033 ].

F  kx (0)
The period of pendulum with simple harmonic motion is calculated using the equation for
simple harmonic motion:

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 m
T  2 (0)
k
The above equation is satisfied when the amplitude of swing is kept small and the motion of
pendulum corresponds to harmonic motion. Consider Figure 1(b), where mass m is suspended
through a string of length l and the mass is displaced from its equilibrium position by θ with a
distance of x across the arc. The force acting on the mass is divided into two components Figure
1(c). The restoring force of pendulum is given by the component of gravitational force along the
arc.

F   mg sin θ (0)
the amplitude of angle θ is small then the restoring force is

F   mgθ (0)
The arc length is related with pendulum length and swing angle by a mathematical equation.

x  lθ (0)
x
F   mg (0)
l
Then the value of constant k is found to be

mg
k (0)
l
Therefore, the period is given by

m l
T  2  2 (0)
mg l g
Similarly, the gravitational acceleration is
2
 2 
g   l (0)
 T 
The gravitational acceleration on the surface of earth is useful to determine the mass of earth.
The mass of earth is related with gravitational force by the gravitational constant G =
6.674×10−11 m3⋅kg−1⋅s−2 as described by Newton’s law of gravity

Mm
Fg  G  mg (0)
r2
Here,

M = Mass of Earth

m = mass of the object placed on Earth’s surface

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r = Radius of earth = 6,378 km

The radius can be measured through many techniques like measuring the length and angle of
shadows at multiple locations on earth.

gr 2
M  (0)
G
The experimental value of pendulum’s period is found to be close to 1.641s. The gravitational
acceleration associated with pendulum having a small mass is 11.6751m/s 2. The mass of earth
calculated obtained by using the Newton’s expression of gravity 7.0799×1024kg.

In this experiment, two tasks are completed. First task involves verifying that the period of
pendulum is independent of swing angle. For this purpose, length of pendulum is kept constant
and swing angle is varied from 10° to 50° with a step of 10°. The second task involves
calculating the mass of earth for by measuring period of pendulum where swing angle is kept
constant and length is varied. The period gravitational acceleration of each pendulum length is
used to evaluate mass of earth by using gravitational constant and radius of earth.

List of Apparatus
The equipment being used in the lab experimentation is noted down.

 String
 Tape Measure
 G-Clamp
 Clamping Bung
 Timer/Stop Watch
 Small Mass/Bob
 Clamp Stand
 Protractor

Health and Safety

 It should be ensured that pendulum has rigid support to avoid any bending in its structure.
 Extra care is taken while measuring the length of pendulum to avoid any error.
 Pendulum is constructed by using components to avoid any sharp turns or corners which
can cause injuries.
 The pendulum is forced to have smooth oscillation in horizontal plane without any noise.
 The pendulum is made to have strong suspension attribute because loose suspension will
create error.

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Method
The experiment is started by building a pendulum model.

 First, the clamp stand is placed in vertical position and G-clamp is utilized to tighten the
stand with bench.
 The clamping bung is gripped firmly with the help of claw of clamp stand.
 A string of specific length is used to serve the purpose of interconnection between
pendulum mass and clamp.
 The length of string is settled in such a way that pendulum’s length becomes equal to 70cm.
Here, Pendulum’s length is the length of the swinging part starting from the joining point of
string to center of the small mass attached at the other end of the pendulum[ CITATION EXP
\l 1033 ].
 The protractor is attached with nut or can be held by one of the performers at the top of
string.
 The practical tasks of experiment are started by shifting the string by 10 degrees and
verifying the angle shift through the protractor.
 After the string shift, oscillations of pendulum are started and the time taken to complete
ten oscillations is recorded. Period of one cycle is obtained by dividing the recorded time by
10.
 The same procedure is repeated for swing angle of 20, 30, 40 and 50 degrees as well.
 The second task of the experiment is done by using the same apparatus, where string length
is varied by keeping the swing angle constant at 30°.
 The measurements of period are done for pendulum lengths of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50cm.
 Period corresponding to each pendulum length is used to determine gravitational
acceleration and mass of earth by using equations (0) & (0).

A two-dimensional model of pendulum model is developed as displayed in

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 Figure 2: 2D Model of Simple Pendulum

Results Section
The results section details the recorded measurements in the form of tables and the graphical
illustrations are used to determine the relationship between dependent and independent
quantities. The graphs are used to determine the slope. The slope of graph is used to calculate
the gravitational acceleration.
A) Measurement Tables
The recorded data corresponding to the swing angle and time recorded from stop watch are
placed in following table.

Initial Amplitude, θ Stopwatch Timer (sec) Time Period, T (sec)

10° 15.73 1.573
20° 16.19 1.619
30° 16.35 1.635
40° 16.79 1.679
50° 16.99 1.699

The measured and calculated data corresponding to the gravitational acceleration and mass of
earth are also recorded.

Pendulum Length, L Time Period, T Gravitational Mass (kg)

(cm) (sec) Acceleration, g (m/s2)
10 0.625 10.106 6.159×1024
20 0.888 10.013 6.103×1024
30 1.086 10.042 6.121×1024
40 1.246 10.171 6.199×1024
50 1.399 10.085 6.147×1024

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B) Graph
A graph between T2 and L is plotted and its slope is used to determine the g.

T2 Versus Length
250.0

200.0
f(x) = 3.9 x + 0.45
T2 (centi-sec2)

150.0

100.0

50.0

0.0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Length (cm)

C) Final Calculations
The slope of the graph is used to find g [ CITATION Suw18 \l 1033 ]

m  3.8971 s 2 /m

The gravitational acceleration is

 2 
2

g
m

 2 
2

g  11.6157m/s 2
3.39871

Discussion
The measured data is processed to calculate the values of gravitational acceleration and Earth’s
mass. The time required for completion of ten cycles is converted by using simple mathematics
and dividing the time by ten find period of pendulum. The period associated with the certain
length of pendulum is used to calculate the value of g. The recorded values of period and its
corresponding length gives the gravitational acceleration.

A graph between square of period T 2 and length of pendulum L is plotted and the gradient of
this graph is used to calculate the gravitational acceleration. The gravitational acceleration is
equal to the 4π2/gradient.

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The graph between T2 and L shows a straight-line characteristic which suggests that there is
linear relationship between these quantities and outliers are not present but the measured
readings of period have some error inside them.

The error incorporated in the data has types of random error, human error and systematic
error.

The results are compared with published readings and error in g is close to 18.52% and error in
earth’s mass is 18.53%.

If the method to perform the experiment is referred, the results can be improved by employing
more improved techniques like where number of measurements for independent variable are
increased against a particular independent variable. This will reduce the random error in
readings.

The range of measurement spans between 10.013 and 10.171m/s 2 for g and period regulates
between 0.625sec and 1.399sec. These values provide a range for earth’s mass in the interval
6.199×1024−6.103×1024kg.

The errors might have been introduced due to human error while recording the time with
stopwatch. The random error might have been introduced due to variable resistance posed by
the air during the movement of pendulum. The systematic error might have been presented by
faulty equipment like timer[ CITATION Seb \l 1033 ].

The equipment can be made better by using a string with lowest possible mass which
experiences minimum amount of air resistance. The timing equipment can be made digital
which is capable of tracking the movement of pendulum. The fan should be switched off.

The experiment can be improved by capsuling the pendulum to avoid the disturbance due to air
current of open environment. Pendulum stand must be temperature compensated. The timing
circuit can be improved by using infrared timers.

Conclusion
This experiment is conducted to investigate the invariant of pendulum’s period with respect to
its swing angle and the results confirm that period remains almost constant when the swing
angle is changed. The Earth’s mass is determined by measuring the gravitational acceleration
acting on the object placed on earth’s surface. The mass of Earth is also close to the published
data of mass. The experiment can be further extended by investigating the dependency of
period on mass of bob. Its accuracy and reliability can be increased by using the strings and bob
of different materials.

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References
x

1. Nethercott QT, Walton ME. Determining the Acceleration Due to Gravity. [Online].; 2013. Available from:
http://www.physics.utah.edu/~ewalton/lab_report.pdf.

2. Parks JE. The Simple Pendulum. [Online].; 2000. Available from:

http://www.phys.utk.edu/labs/simplependulum.pdf.

3. EXPLORABLE. Pendulum Experiment. [Online]. Available from: https://explorable.com/pendulum-

experiment.

4. Suwanpayak N, Sutthiyan S, Kulsirirat K, Srisongkram P, Teeka C, Buranasiri P. A comparison of gravitational

acceleration measurement methods for undergraduate experiment. In IOP Publishing; 2018.

5. King S. Pendulum Experiment. [Online]. Available from: https://prezi.com/w9toslysyvct/pendulum-

experiment/.

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