Coursework Investigation: the Pendulum

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Coursework investigation: The Pendulum

How the simple pendulum was discovered:

Galileo was once attending a church service at the cathedral Pisa when a lamp distracted his attention that was suspended from the roof by a chain swinging. He noticed the time of swing of the lamp remained constant even when the oscillations were fading. The lamp was behaving as a pendulum. Galileo realised that a pendulum could be used to run a clock. Galileo left plans for making this clock when he died in 1642, and in 1657 the Dutch scientist, Christian Huygens, made the first successful pendulum clock.

Prediction:

I predict that the longer the string is, the longer the pendulum period will become.

This is because the pendulum has to travel further to reach the same angle of displacement and because the force of the gravity is the same no matter what the length of the string is, so the acceleration will be the same. So the pendulum that has to travel the furthest will take the longest amount of time.

Aim:

To investigate the period of swing of a pendulum.

Planning Experimental Procedures:
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The period of a pendulum is one swing of a pendulum; it is often called an oscillation or a vibration. The complete swing of a pendulum is the swing from left to right and back again.

Variables:

? Weight of the bob.

? Air resistance of the bob.

? Length of string.

? Angle of swings.

? Force of the push.

? Size of the gravitational force.

? Acceleration due to gravity.

? Thickness of string.

Factor to Investigate:

I have decided to investigate whether the ...

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