Compound Pendulum

Equipment Used:
1- A rod for compound Pendulum,
2- Knife Edge (to suspend the pendulum),
3- A stopwatch to record time.

Abstract:
In this investigation we aim to determine the acceleration due to
gravity (g) using a compound pendulum. We also find out that the
acceleration due to gravity is directly proportional to Length (L) over
Time2 (T2). We measure and find the point where the center of mass of
the pendulum lies and then suspend it from one side while giving a
slight jerk on the other side to find out the time for the oscillation.
Which will be used to calculate acceleration due to gravity (g) later.

Basic Principle:
A compound pendulum is a rigid body which is suspended from one
end and allowed to freely move from the other point . Unlike simple
pendulum where the mass is concentrated
in the bob fixed at end, here the mass is
uniformly distributed throughout the rod.
The pendulum we will be using will have
19 points drilled into it each point at an
equidistance of 5cm from the other, with
the 10th point being the point where the
center of mass appears to act. The length
of rod will be 1.0m. In the figure a point A and a point B have been
labelled at each end respectively. A small jerk is applied at point B while
the rod is to be suspended from the first point at A, time is to be
calculated for 10 oscillations for better and more accurate results the
experiment is to be repeated twice at each point and then average is to
be taken of the readings. The experiment will be repeated till 9th point
after which the rod will be suspended from point B and the experiment
continued till 19th point.

Procedure:
1- Find out the point where center of mass appears to act and mark
it G.
2- Mark each side A and B respectively and make one side (suppose
B), a reference side.
3- Suspend the rod at one point using knife edge, and record time
for 10 oscillations, make sure that you don’t give the rod a push
greater than 5o.
4- Measure the length from the point from where the rod is
suspended, to the reference point.
5- Repeat steps 3 to 4, till point 9.
6- When the wedge passes through G, the other side is to be moved
up and the distance still needs to be measured from the same
reference point.
7- For better accuracy repeat the readings.
8- Record time for 10 oscillations and divide it by 10 to find the time
for single oscillations.
9- Using the data collected, draw a graph with distance on the x-axis
and time on the y-axis.
Reading Distance from Time for 10 Time for 1
Number reference point oscillations oscillation
/m /s /s
1 0.05 15.86 1.586
2 0.10 15.58 1.558
3 0.15 15.32 1.532
4 0.20 15.05 1.505
5 0.25 15.36 1.536
6 0.30 15.76 1.576
7 0.35 16.80 1.680
8 0.40 18.96 1.896
9 0.45 25.43 2.543
10 0.50 --- ---
11 0.55 27.56 2.756
12 0.60 19.70 1.970
13 0.65 16.99 1.699
14 0.70 15.69 1.569
15 0.75 14.64 1.464
16 0.80 14.89 1.489
17 0.85 14.97 1.497
18 0.90 15.31 1.531
19 0.95 15.91 1.591
Graph:

Compound Pendulum

2.2

2.1

1.9
TIme /s

1.8

1.7

1.6

A 1.5 C D
B G
1.4

1.3
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Distance /m

Calculations:

Using the graph:

Length of AG: 0.35m
Length of GC: 0.20m
Total length: 0.35m + 0.20m =0.55m

Corresponding time: 1.49s

Using the equation: g=4π2 (L/T2)
We put the respective values:

g=4π2(0.55/1.492)
g=9.78 ms-2
 Percentage error= (9.81-9.78)/9.81 * 100
= 0.3%

RESULT: The value for acceleration due to gravity is 9.78ms-2 ± 0.3%.