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Pendulum Lab Uri Garcia-Sanchez IB DP Physics SL, Margret Coyne September 10,

As a class we are trying to find which Independent variable (length, angle,or mass) will affect the dependent variable (period). If you are in a group of 3 each one will take one of the independent variables and measure it. Then, if there are two people, one person will take two independent variables and measure them while the other takes one. What Factors of the construction and operation of a simple pendulum affects the period of the pendulum? In other words this question is asking “What independent variable affects the dependent variable.” A pendulum is an object hung from a fixed point that swings back and forth under the action of gravity. When the swing is raised and released, it will move freely back and forth due to the force of gravity on it. The swing continues moving back and forth without any extra outside help until friction beings to slow it down and eventually stops it.The time it takes a pendulum to swing back to its original position is called the period of the pendulum.We know that there is only one Independent variable that will be affected by the dependent variable. The hypothesis for this lab that my group and I came up with was, If the value of the independent variable is increased, then the dependent variable will decrease. This is because the heavier the mass has the slower motion. Mean while the lighter the mass the faster of motion that it has. The size of the masses greatly reflect on the angle and speed that it will have on the pendulum. Independent variables are the ones whose variation does not depend on another. The ones that you can manipulate. The independent variables for this lab are length, mass which is also the weight, and releasing in other words the angle you letting it fall from. The dependent variable is the ones whose value depends on another. The ones you can measure. The dependent variable for this lab would be the period which is also known as the time. Controlled variables are the ones that changes when you change the independent variable. The one you can measure. The controlled variables for this lab was the ring stand and clamp. As for my independent variable I will be choosing the angle. For this I will change the angles every time from were im releasing it. The control of variable for this lab would have to be the type of string or yarn you use. You can't be using one or the other because that can mess you whole data up. The difference between them is that the yarn is a twisted strand of fiber used for knitting or waving, while the string is a long, thin and flexible structure. The materials we used for this lab was yarn, tape, meter sticks , scissors, pencil and paper, ring stand and clamp, mass weights, a stopwatch accurate to 0.1 second, and a protractor. We used the yarn so we could attach the masses to it. The meter stick to measure how long our string was and so when we needed to change it we could measure and have the data. The pencil and paper to write down our data. The ring stand and clamp so we could attach the protractor and the string.We used the mass weights to see what would happen to the time if we used a different one each time. We used the stopwatch to see how much time it took to complete one whole period. Lastly, we used the protractor to see the angle we were going to be releasing the mass from.

100± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:10± 0.01s 100± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:22± 0.01s 100± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:25± 0.01s 100± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:18± 0.01s 100± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:18± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time 50 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:24± 0.01s 50 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:20± 0.01s 50 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:05± 0.01s 50 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:20± 0.01s 50 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:19± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time 20 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:27± 0.01s 20 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:07± 0.01s 20 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:15± 0.01s 20 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:11± 0.01s 20 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:08± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time 10 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:14± 0.01s 10 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:02± 0.01s 10 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:13± 0.01s 10 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:28± 0.01s 10 ± 0.05g 50.0 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:16± 0.01s

For this data above we only changed the mass and we kept the angle and length the same. The time will always be changing no matter what you are doing. For our mass and length my group and I had the uncertainty of 0.05 (± 0.05). For our uncertainty of the angle my group and I had a 0.1 (± 0.1). ANGLE CHANGE ONLY Mass Angle Length Time 100 ± 0.05g 30 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:18± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 30 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:10± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 30 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:24± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 30 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:30± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 30 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:20± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time 100 ± 0.05g 40 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:15± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 40 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:29± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 40 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:23± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 40 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:29± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 40 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:04± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time 100 ± 0.05g 50 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:18± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 50 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:19± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 50 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:16± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 50 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:13± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 50 ± 0.1 36.50 ± 0.05 cm 1:24± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time

100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 20.0 ± 0.05 cm .93± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 20.0 ± 0.05 cm .94± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 20.0 ± 0.05 cm .96± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 20.0 ± 0.05 cm 1.00± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 20.0 ± 0.05 cm .89± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 25.0± 0.05 cm 1:05± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 25.0± 0.05 cm 1:08± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 25.0± 0.05 cm 1:13± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 25.0± 0.05 cm 1:01± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 25.0± 0.05 cm 1:03± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 30.0 ± 0.05 cm 1:16± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 30.0 ± 0.05 cm 1:19± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 30.0 ± 0.05 cm 1:21± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 30.0 ± 0.05 cm 1:20± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 30.0 ± 0.05 cm 1:10± 0.01s Mass Angle Length Time 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 35.0± 0.05 cm 1:26± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 35.0± 0.05 cm 1:36± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 35.0± 0.05 cm 1:21± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 35.0± 0.05 cm 1:31± 0.01s 100 ± 0.05g 45.0± 0.1 35.0± 0.05 cm 1:20± 0.01s

For this data above we only changed the length and we kept the mass and angle the same. The time will always be changing no matter what you are doing. For our mass and length my group and I had the uncertainty of 0.05 (± 0.05). For our uncertainty of the angle my group and I had a 0.1 (± 0.1). From this lab we had to figure out which one of the 3 independent variables had to affect the dependent variable. We found out that the independent variable that affected the dependent variable was length. This is because The length of the string affects the pendulum's period such that the longer the length of the string, the longer the pendulum's period. A pendulum with a longer string has a lower frequency, meaning it swings back and forth less times in a given amount of time than a pendulum with a shorter string length. The strengths and weakness that we had in this lab report was that the period of the swing was constant independent of how far it swings depending on how small you keep the length. Also, we had during the lab was the period that depends on the local strength of gravity, so it would not swing at the same rate at higher altitudes where gravity is lower. If the temperature changes and that makes the length change, then the period change. The angle, though controlled, was also not precise. This experiment was not designed to look for starting angle effects on a pendulum's period. Therefore we cannot rule out starting angle effects leading to discrepancies between our results and the theoretical predictions. Some improvements that I think that should have been done is instead of timing it from the center of its swing. Both methods would have resulted with the same data, but it would have been better and more accurate to measure the time at a clearly defined point. For my references my group and I all did a different experiment but in my lab report i included all three experiments. So each one has an experiment that they did. My group members were Shaun’tae Swanson and Christian Garcia.