Pendulum

Objective
The goal of this project is to investigate the motion of a simple pendulum. How is the motion of the pendulum related to its length?

PURPOSE
In phase 1 the purpose was to determine the effect of the arc (angle of the swing) on the frequency of a pendulum. In phase 2 the purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of length on the frequency of a pendulum. In phase 3 the purpose of the experiment was to determine the effect of mass (weight) on the frequency of a pendulum. I became interested in this idea when I learned about pendulums from a television show. The information gained from this experiment will help people who buy old fashion pendulum clocks because they may swing at different speeds which would make them run too fast or too slow.

HYPOTHESIS
My hypothesis for phase 1 was that the larger the angle of the swing (arc) of the pendulum, the slower the frequency of the pendulum. My hypothesis for phase 2 was that the longer the pendulum, the slower the frequency of the pendulum. My hypothesis for phase 3 was that the heavier the pendulum, the slower the frequency of the pendulum. I based my hypothesis for phase 1 on my observation of playground swings. The longer the size of the arc, the slower it takes for a full swing. I based my hypothesis for phase 2 on my observation of playground swings. The longer the swing is the slower you appear to swing. I based my hypothesis for phase 3 on my observation of playground swings. The heavier the person on the swing the slower you appear to swing.

EXPERIMENT DESIGN
The constants in this study were: Materials of a pendulum Support line Anchor point A stopwatch The length of the pendulum stays the same The weight of the pendulums stays the same The humidity stays the same The wind in the room must stay the same. The manipulated variable for phase 1 was the arc (swing angle) of the pendulum. The manipulated variable for phase 2 was the length of the pendulum. The manipulated variable for phase 3 was the mass of the pendulum. The responding variables were the frequency of the pendulum in swings per minute. To measure the responding variable I counted the number of full swings in 30 seconds and multiplied that by 2

MATERIALS
Quantity
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 1

Item Description
Tape Pencil Calculator Protractor Stopwatch Metric Ruler String (about 200 cm) A friend or family member Weights Long wooden block

PROCEDURES

1. Find a place where it is possible to set up a pendulum (best place is in the middle of a room or anywhere that the pendulum wont hit anything). 2. Set up the pendulum. a. First get a long wooden board with a ring (eyebolt) on the bottom of it and a nail on top. b. First tie the string to one of the weights (washers). c. Slide the string through the ring and up tie it around the nail on the top of the wooden board. 3. Pull back the weight and let go of it so that it swings freely back and forth, not in a loop. Practice this a few times so that when you do the test you know how far up you pull the weight before you let it swing. 4. In phase 1 tie two of the weights to one of the ends of the string and slide the string through the ring and tie the other end of the string to the nail on the top of the wooden block so that the length between the weight and the ring is 100 cm. 5. Phase 1 should be done with 2 washers and 100 cm of length. 6. For phase 1 get a protractor and have the helper hold it up at the top of the pendulum, and make sure the pendulum is exactly 15 degrees angles from vertical when released. 7. Pull back the weights tied to the string and ask a helper to say, go and have them start the stopwatch and let go of the weight. 8. Once you let go of the weight start counting the number of full swings (periods) until the helper says, stop. 9. Repeat step 6- 8 for a total of 5 times. 10. Repeat steps 6-9 for several other starting angles (30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, and 75 degrees from vertical). 11. Record your data on Data Table A: Arc Variable. To find the results for 1 minute multiply the results you got for 30 seconds by 2. 12. Phase 2 should be done with 2 washers at 45 degrees. 13. In phase 2 tie one of the weights to one of the ends of the string and slide the string through the ring stand and tie the other end of the string to the nail on the top of the wooden block so that the length between the weight and the ring stand. 14. Repeat steps 5- 8 with different lengths of the strings by pulling the string through the ring stand tying it around the nail (20 cm, 40 cm, 60 cm, 80cm). 15. Record your data on Data Table B: String Length Variable. To find the results for 1 minute multiply the results you got for 30 seconds by 2. 16. Phase 3 should be done with 100 cm of string at 45 degrees from vertical. 17. In phase 3 just repeat steps 7-9 with different weights (15 g, 30g, 45g, 60g, and 75g). 18. Record your data on Data Table C: Weight Variable. To find the results for 1 minute multiply the results you got for 30 seconds by 2.

RESULTS
The purpose for phase 1 was to determine the effect of the arc (angle of the swing) on the frequency of a pendulum. The results of the experiment for phase 1 were strange because unlike the others, it doesnt go up or down, it goes up then down. 30 had 28. 6 periods, 60 had 28. 8 periods, 90 had 30. 8 periods, 120 had 28. 4 periods, and 150 had 26. 6 periods (nothing like the others). The purpose for phase 2 was to determine the effect of length on the frequency of a pendulum. The results of the experiment for phase 2 were the longer your string is the slower it goes and vice- versa. In my research 20 cm had a lot more periods than 100 cm. The average amount of periods for 20 cm is 63. 8 and the average periods for 100 cm are 38. 8 (major difference). The purpose for phase 3 was to determine the effect of weight (mass) on the frequency of a pendulum. The results of the experiment for phase 3 was that the heavier the pendulum the less swings there were and vice- versa. In my research 15 grams had a little bit more of periods than 75 grams. The average amount of periods for 15 grams is 31 and the average for 75 is 29. 4 (small difference).

CONCLUSION
My hypothesis for phase 1 was that the larger the angle of the swing (arc) of the pendulum, the slower the frequency of the pendulum. The results indicate that this hypothesis should be rejected because there was almost no difference due to angle. My hypothesis for phase 2 was that the longer the pendulum, the slower the frequency of the pendulum. The results indicate that this hypothesis should be accepted because at first the shorter string had a lot of swings and the longer I made the string, the fewer swings there were. My hypothesis for phase 3 was that the heavier the pendulum, the slower the frequency of the pendulum. The results indicate that this hypothesis should be rejected because there was almost no difference due to mass.Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if these results would also apply to double or triple pendulums. If I were to conduct this project again I would try to conduct the experiments more than five times. I might also try to do more than five different treatments (angle for phase 1, length for phase 2 and mass for phase 3).