Practical Investigation

The first 200 words of this essay...

PRACTICAL INVESTIGATION: THE SIMPLE PENDULUM

AIM:

The aim is to investigate the factors which affect the period of oscillation of a simple pendulum.

THEORY:

Over 400 years ago, Galileo came up with the theory that the period of a pendulum depends only on the length of the pendulum. A simple pendulum consists of a weight hanging off a string. When the bob is stationary, the two forces acting upon the bob - the tension of the string and gravity - equalise and gives the bob an overall force of 0N. However, when the bob is in motion, the forces are unbalanced and the bob swings back and forth. If the amplitude of the string is increased, the weight will swing back and forth at a regular period. However, if the amplitude of the swing is increased too much, this may cause the weight to bounce and the period of a pendulum may be void. The period of a pendulum is the time for one complete swing. The equation for the period of a pendulum is

T =

where 'L' is the length of the pendulum, 'g' is the acceleration due to gravity