Simple Harmonic Motion Lab Report
Simple Harmonic Motion Lab Report
In this lab, I will study the principles of simple harmonic motion using an oscillating pendulum. If I were to design an experiment that would help me study the properties of an oscillating pendulum and investigate what causes a pendulum to swing faster or slower, I would prepare several masses (e.g. 20g, 50g, 100g, 200g, etc.) that can be attached to a string, several strings of varying lengths from 0.1m to 1.0m that are strong enough to support the weight of the masses, support for each pendulum, a stopwatch, and a measuring tool such as a meter stick. Using such materials, I would try to measure the length of the pendulum, the number of cycles the pendulum goes back and forth, the time it takes for the pendulum to do so, and the variables that drive the pendulum to act as so. Based on what I learned in keystone, I would expect to get results that show that the only variable that affects the period of a pendulum is its length. Additionally, that for pendulums swung from angles smaller than 15 degrees, the angle they are swung at are virtually insignificant. If the results were different, there would be a mistake in my recordings or procedure of the results and the experiment because the expected results have already been proven many times over and have been established as official scientific facts.
In this lab, I will measure the period (the time required for the pendulum to complete one back and forth cycle) of each of the models (of a simple pendulum) of different cord lengths. I would expect that the longer the cord length, the longer the period. This would be because of the given formula of the period of a pendulum (in seconds):
[->0], where L is the string length (in meters) and g is the gravitational acceleration on earth (9.8 m/s2). The formula shows that the period of the pendulum depends on the square root of the string length and the gravitational acceleration of the Earth (under normal circumstances, since we are
In this lab, I will study the principles of simple harmonic motion using an oscillating pendulum. If I were to design an experiment that would help me study the properties of an oscillating pendulum and investigate what causes a pendulum to swing faster or slower, I would prepare several masses (e.g. 20g, 50g, 100g, 200g, etc.) that can be attached to a string, several strings of varying lengths from 0.1m to 1.0m that are strong enough to support the weight of the masses, support for each pendulum, a stopwatch, and a measuring tool such as a meter stick. Using such materials, I would try to measure the length of the pendulum, the number of cycles the pendulum goes back and forth, the time it takes for the pendulum to do so, and the variables that drive the pendulum to act as so. Based on what I learned in keystone, I would expect to get results that show that the only variable that affects the period of a pendulum is its length. Additionally, that for pendulums swung from angles smaller than 15 degrees, the angle they are swung at are virtually insignificant. If the results were different, there would be a mistake in my recordings or procedure of the results and the experiment because the expected results have already been proven many times over and have been established as official scientific facts.
In this lab, I will measure the period (the time required for the pendulum to complete one back and forth cycle) of each of the models (of a simple pendulum) of different cord lengths. I would expect that the longer the cord length, the longer the period. This would be because of the given formula of the period of a pendulum (in seconds):
[->0], where L is the string length (in meters) and g is the gravitational acceleration on earth (9.8 m/s2). The formula shows that the period of the pendulum depends on the square root of the string length and the gravitational acceleration of the Earth (under normal circumstances, since we are