Determineing 'G' Essay

Submitted By jimymn
Words: 762
Pages: 4

Physics - using a pendulum to determine 'g'

Abstract -

Aim- The experiment that has been conducted will give you a better and clearer view of what happens when gravity is put into practice. It will help your have a better understanding of how gravity is being used and how it effects the way we live. By using a pendulum the aim is to determine the value for the acceleration due to gravity by analyzing the data. Hypothesis - It was expected by shortening the piece of string the acceleration due to gravity will increase in speed hence improving the average time so that the weight meets the reaching point, through this the value of 'g' will be found.

Theory - A pendulum is a weight that has been stopped from a pivot so it can swing freely. When a pendulum is placed on from its balanced position, it is a subject of restoring force due to gravity that will make it swing back its balanced position. There are many possible theories to this experiment, one of them are ' When released, the forced combined with the pendulum's mass causes it to move back and forth around its balanced position. The time for it to complete a cycle from left swing to right swing is called a period. a period is used to measure the acceleration due to gravity.

The period a pendulums back and forth swing depends on its length, and acceleration of gravity. The time taking to complete that period is.

T=2π√(L/g)

Where g (9.81m/s^2) is the acceleration due to gravity, L = lengths ( meters ) , the length of the pendulum and T (s) is the period of the time
From this equation it can be shown that :
T^2=(4π^2)/g L

this is shown as: gradient equals : (4π^2)/g

apparatus/material- The equipment we used to construct this experiment were - - a string of several lengths, ranging from 0.1m up to 0.5m -one or more lead sinker weights - (100grams) - A stop watch for timing the swinging of the weights - something that can hold the lead sinker to the top of the pendulum and can be hung securely. method- measure the length of the string until it reaches your length on your analysis table. attach weight to the shortest string, then attach the other end of string to the claw, Lift the weight so that string angle from the vertical is about 45 degrees. Let go of the string without pushing it and record and count every time the weight reaches its point 10 times. Repeat the measurement several times and take the average result. then repeat the experiment 5 times ranging from 0.5m of string to 0.1m . OR step 1- measure