The Simple Pendulum

Harleigh Donovan
Harleigh.donovan@louisville.edu
PHYS 223, Section 06
Atanu Pathak
Thursdays 1:00-2:50
DUE DATE: April 2, 2020
DATE SUBMITTED: April 2, 2020
Introduction

This experiment is about the derivation of the period of the pendulum. the form is of a general
nature; 2 π multiplied by a ratio under a square root, of which is a dynamic variable over a measure of
the acceleration of the system. In the case of the pendulum, the dynamic variable, or the thing that
changes, is the length, and the acceleration is that of gravity. If we know the length of the pendulum and
use gravity as 9.8 m/s, we can predict the period using the equation:

l
 2π √
g

Objective

The objective of this lab is to find the value of gravity through seven sets of experiments, using a
pendulum at different lengths, to obtain a value of a slope, which would allow the ability to find g, using
the equation:

4 π2
 = slope
g

Questions and analysis

1. The average % error between the measured values and the predicted values is 3.45%.
2. I believe the largest source of error in the first part of the experiment is not doing the
experiment in real time, as the perception of time changes in real life versus on screen. Also,
another source of error is the applied force on each pendulum swing, causing the swings to
not be started exactly the same, allowing for more error.
3. The slope of the period squared vs. length is 3.6066.
4. The determined value of gravity from the slope is 10.95 m/s. This has a percent error of
11.73%. There is error there, which means that the pendulum swung under a constant
acceleration of 10.95 m/s instead of what is theoretical, which is 9.8 m/s.

Conclusion

This experiment concluded that the value of gravity was 10.95 m/s, even though there was a
percent error of 11.73% from the theoretical value of 9.8 m/s. This shows that there is some form of
error in the experiment. The error can be timing purposes from viewing a video instead of viewing the
experiment in real time, as perception changes on video, along with lag from cameras adjusting. Error
can also be accompanied by the force use to start the swing for each experiment, as the experiment
would not have had the same starting positions.
Data

Time (10 Period

Length (m) Cycles) period (1 cycle) Predicted period % error Length (m) Squared
0.885 18.99 1.899 1.888 0.58% 0.885 3.606201
0.785 16.6 1.66 1.778 6.64% 0.785 2.7556
0.673 15.04 1.504 1.647 8.68% 0.673 2.262016
0.573 14.39 1.439 1.519 5.23% 0.573 2.070721
0.495 14.31 1.431 1.412 1.35% 0.495 2.047761
0.41 12.96 1.296 1.285 0.86% 0.41 1.679616
0.328 11.4 1.14 1.149 0.78% 0.328 1.2996

Period squared vs. Length

4
3.5
3 f(x) = 3.60659151580628 x + 0.10825240013139
Period Squared

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Length (m)