KATER’S PENDULUM

By- Saurabh Yadav &

Shubham
Gupta
kirori Mal College G5 5
group
WHAT'S A PENDULUM?
 Pendulum in latin means hanging. Something hanging from a fixed
point which, when pulled back and released , is free to swing down by
force of gravity and then out and up because of its inertia.

 INERTIA: a property of matter by which it continues in its existing

state of rest or uniform motion in straight line, unless that state is
changed by an external force.
 The Italian scientist Galileo first noted (c.1583) the constancy of a
pendulum’s period by comparing the movement of a swinging lamp in
Pisa Cathedral with his pulse rate.
 The Dutch mathematician and scientist Christiaan Huygens invented a
clock, controlled by the motion of a pendulum in 1656.
 Kater’s original pendulum, showing use, from Kater’s 1818 paper. -
KATER’S APPROACH -

 Kater knew that for the pendulum equation to the precise, he needed to know the pendulum’s L. This
amounts to the knowledge of Radius of gyration. It is this radius that is hard to measure precisely since it
depends on the distribution of the mass in the pendulum. So Kater decided to build a reversible
pendulum.
 It has pivots on each end, with two movable masses. They are in line with the centre of mass. The value
of the period of oscillation is different in the both ends. If the movable weight is adjusted until the period
for both orientation of pendulum becomes equal, we get our special result “g”.
 When this case gets satisfied, Katers pendulum becomes equivalent to a simple pendulum.
 Applying formula for period of motion at both the pivots and comparing it, we get
g = 8pi^2/ T1^2 + T2^2 /l1 + l2 + T1^2 – T2^2/l1 – l2 . EQ - 1
This equation is called Bessel's equation.
If T1 and T2 are nearly equal, the approximate value of l1 – l2 can be considered.
If T1 =T2 , then
g = 4pi^2l/ T^2
IF period of swing = T
Length of pendulum = L
Acceleration due to gravity = g, then
T=2pi(L/g) ^1/2
HISTORY OF KATER’S PENDULUM
• A kater’s pendulum is a reversible free swinging pendulum invented by British
physicist and army captain Henry kater in 1817 for use as a gravimeter instrument
to measure the local acceleration due to gravity.
• The first person to discover that gravity varied over the Earth’s surface was french
scientist Jean Richer , who in 1671 set on expedition to Cayenne, french, Guiana
by the french Académie des sciences assigned the task of making measurements
using Pendulum clock.
• Through the observations he made in the following year, Richer determined that
the clock was 2 and half minutes slower per day than at Paris.
• It was realized by the scientists of the day and proven by Isaac Newton in 1687,
that this was due to the fact that the Earth was not a perfect sphere but slightly
oblate.
• Since that time Pendulums began to be used as precision gravimeters taken on
voyages to different parts of the world to measure the local gravitational
acceleration.
DETERMINATION OF ‘G’ BY KATER’S
PENDULUM

Apparatus –
 a reversible pendulum, knife edges, support stands, photodetector/ stop watch, measuring tape /scale.

 Procedure –
In this experiment in order to find g, first we need to determine the equivalent length ( la + lb ).
( Here la, lb , TA, TB means l1 ,l2, Ta, Tb respectively ).
1. Throughout the experiment sleeve A is fixed at a distance of 7 – 10 cm from one end of the pendulum.
Position of sleeve B can be varied.
2. Adjust the bearing sleeve B so that the distance between the two sleeves, ( la + lb ) is roughly 45cm. Make
sleeve A as the pivot point and record the time period TA about A.
3. Now turn the pendulum upside down and make sleeve B as the pivot point. Measure the time period TB by varying the
position of sleeve B (keeping position of sleeve A fixed) such that (la + lb) is between 34 cm and 60 cm, in steps of 2 cm
(just because we already know that this range will work).

4. Plot the time period TB as a function of (la + lb). Find the length (la +lb) from the graph corresponding to T = TB =
TA, as recorded in step-2. See Fig. 3 for reference.

5. Now to determine the value of T and (la + lb) more accurately, record both TA and TB about sleeves A and B as pivot
points, respectively. Again, position of sleeve A remains fixed and position of sleeve B is varied in the range (la + lb) ± 3 cm
with smaller intervals of 0.3 cm.

6. Plot TA and TB as a function of (la + lb) on the same scale as shown in Fig. 4. Find T and (la +lb) at point of intersection
of the two curves and calculate ‘g’ using Eqn.(1).
GRAPHS -
 OBSERVATIONS -

1. (la + lb ) = 45cm. Ta =………………….sec.

2. Table 1 : Data for Tb – ( la + lb ) graph.

No. of observations (la + lb)cm Tb (sec)

01 34 ..
02 36 ..
.. .. ..
.. .. ..
.. 60 ..
3. Table 3 : Data for Ta, Tb – ( la + lb ) graph

No. of observations ( la + lb )cm Ta ( sec ) Tb ( sec )

… … … …

… … … …

… … … …

… … … …

… … … …

Graphs / Calculations : g = …………………cm/sec2.

 REFERENCES -

 Practical physics : R.K. Shukla, Anchal Srivastava.

 Kenneth. E. Jesse, American Journal of Physics, Vol. 48, Issue 9, pp. 785 ( 1980 ).
 www.Wikipedia.org
 Kater’s pendulum by Charu Lakshmi.