Physics Spinning Stopper Lab

Authors Avatar by codyboy007 (student)

        Spinning Stopper Lab        November 28th, 2011

IB Physics HL

Research Question: How does the time period of the stopper depend upon the length of the string?

Source:  

The centripetal force of the stopper is from the horizontal component of tension. Since the tension is equal to the weight of the hanging mass below:

From the diagram above, sin

is equal to

, and therefore:

Data:

Controlled Variables:

Mass of the stopper: 0.0175±0.0001kg

Mass of the hanging mass: 0.0709±0.0001kg

*The uncertainty for the masses came from the smallest division of the balance scale rather than half the smallest division since it was the first experience with the equipment, possibly making the measurement less accurate.

Table 1 (Length of the String vs. Time Took for the Stopper to Revolve 10 Times):

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*Uncertainty value of the length of the string is from the smallest division of the instrument since 0.001m length of mark by the marker was used on the string to indicate where the length of the spring was supposed to be kept at when the stopper was spinning.

* (Average Time uncertainty) = ((Max Time)-(Min Time))/2 = (3.2-2.8)/2 = 0.2s.

*Time uncertainty was estimated to be ±0.1s since it was thought to be reasonable to estimate the human stopwatch accuracy up to 0.1 second difference.  

Table 2 (Length vs. T and T2 and their uncertainties):

*T value = ...

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