Additional Science - What affects the period of a pendulum?

The first 200 words of this essay...

ADDITIONAL SCIENCE COURSEWORK - Investigating factors that affect the period of a pendulum.

There are several factors that could affect the period of a pendulum. Factors such as the length of the string, the height from where the ball bearing is dropped from, the material of the ball bearing and the weight of it can affect the period. I can control the length of the string by having several different lengths of string (measured accurately), and change the material of the ball bearing and the size of it.

By doing the preliminary experiments I can see which factor affects the period of the pendulum the most and then have that as my main experiment to elaborate on it. Once that is completed, the results will be recorded and presented in a graph. A conclusion on the results and an evaluation will also be included.

To make the preliminaries and the main experiment a fair test, I will:

- Have to make sure that the string used to tie the ball to the apparatus will be the same material throughout the preliminaries and main experiment.

- Keep the size and the material of the