Passage V

A pendulum is made by suspending a mass by a thin wire from a fixed support (see Figure l below). If the mass is pulled out such that the wire is at some small angle from the vertical direction and released, the mass will oscillate (swing back and forth between the position at which it was released and a position opposite that at which it was released). The time required for one such oscillation (over and back) is the period of the pendulum. The purpose of the following experiments is to determine how particular physical variables affect the measured period of a pendulum.

Experiment 1

The experimenter used three objects of different mass as pendulum weights. The wire length and the angle of initial displacement are held constant. The results of this experiment are presented in Table 1.

Experiment 2

The experimenter used three different lengths of wire to suspend the mass. The amount of mass suspended and the angle of initial displacement are held constant. The results are presented in Table 2.

Experiment 3

The experimenter varied the angle of initial displacement. The length of wire and the amount of mass suspended are held constant. The results are presented in Table 3.

Experiment 4

The experimenter used the same procedure to measure the period of a single pendulum three times in a row without changing any of the variables. This is to determine the precision with which this experimental procedure can determine the period of a pendulum. The results are presented in Table 4.