The purpose of this experiment is to determine if the length of the string in the pendulum affects the period of the simple pendulum. The main limitation of this experiment is the air resistance

P = Period

Ms = Mass of the string

Ls = Length of string

θ = Degree the string is released from

Mb = Mass of the ball

Controlling the variables

        In order to receive the best results, all of the variables were kept as consistent as possible. A single stopwatch, controlled by one person, was used to measure the time that the pendulum completed one full period. The mass of the string was measured after the trials were complete by the same electronic scale. The length of the string was measured after the all was tied to the string and measured from the top of the ball to the end of the string. A protractor that was taped to the roof measured the degree that the string was released from and an experimenter would make sure the string was consistently released from the same position for every trial. The same brass ball was used for every length of string and its mass was measured both before and after the trials and remained consistent throughout.

Developing a method for collection of data

        To determine the relationship of the length of a string and the period of a simple pendulum I first cut three strings that measured 100cm, 150cm, and 200cm. I then got a brass ball and tied it to one string at a time and began to start my trials. First, I taped a protractor to the roof to find the degree that the string is released from. I then released the string from 40 degrees and measured every other period to receive five values, excluding the first period in order to try to limit the human error that is present when the string is released. After completing five trials in this fashion, I proceeded to do five more trials by measuring every period up to five values and then found the average time of the first five trials and the average time of the second five trials to find the time for one period. After completing this process for all three string lengths, I measured the mass of each string and made sure that they remained the same length. When all the data was recorded I continued to process this data.