Simple Harmonic Motion experiment using a pendulum

By:

Winston Leonard Prayonggo/ Grade 10

SMA KRISTEN ELYON

2019/2020
 I. Introduction
A. Title
Simple Harmonic Motion experiment using a pendulum
B. Introduction
Simple harmonic motion, in physics, is the repetitive movement of back and forth
through an equilibrium, or central, position, so that the maximum displacement on one
side of this position is equal to the maximum displacement on the other side. The time
interval of each complete vibration (period) is the same. The force responsible for the
motion is always directed toward the equilibrium position and is directly proportional to
the distance from it.
The movement of a pendulum is closely similar to simple harmonic motion. A
simple pendulum consists of a particle of mass m, attached to a frictionless pivot by a
cable length of L and negligible mass. When the particle is pulled away from its
equilibrium position by an angle and released, it swings back and forth, hence resembling
simple harmonic motion. The length L and the acceleration due to gravity g (9.81m/s2)
determine the period of a simple pendulum for small angles (no larger than 10°). The
relationship between the length of the string, the period of the oscillation, and the
acceleration due to gravity is defined with the equation below.
L

C. Purpose
√
T=2π g

a. To check for the acceleration due to gravity using a simple pendulum

b. To investigate for the relationship between the length of the string (L), and the period
of each oscillation (T) using a simple pendulum
D. Problem statement
a. Will the acceleration due to gravity be around 9.81 m/s2?
b. Will a longer string length determine a longer period?
E. Hypothesis
The acceleration of gravity would be around 9.81m/s2 and the longer the string length is,
the longer the period of one oscillation will take.
F. Variables
i) Independent variable:
- The length of the string
ii) Dependent variable:
- The period of each oscillation
iii) Controlled variable:
- The same marble will be used for each test
- Same stopwatch will be used (Vivo Y17)
- The same location for each trial
- Nail as a fiducial marker
II. Research Method
A. Materials and apparatuses
-1 marble
-Light and inextensible string
-2 nails
-A glue gun
-A piece of paper
-A stopwatch (vivo Y17, accuracy 0.01s)
- Tape
B. Procedures
1. Use the glue gun to glue down a nail to a piece of a paper. Make sure that the nail that
is glued down is sturdy enough to act as the pivot of our experiment later on. Refer to
Figure 1
2. Paste the piece of paper that has the nail glued on it on to the wall at least 2m above
the ground.
3. Cut out 5 different string lengths (20cm, 40 cm, 60cm, 80cm, and 100cm). Make sure
to add an extra centimeter on each side of the string, as 1cm on each side will be taped
to either the marble or the pivot of the pendulum.
4. Tape one end of the string to a marble and the other end to the pivot. Figure 2 shows
the set-up of our simple pendulum
5. Place the fiducial marker right behind the marble when it is at equilibrium.
6. Displace the marble from its equilibrium position. Make sure that the angle of
displacement is no more than 10°.
7. Use the stopwatch to measure the time taken to complete 10 oscillations. Divide that
by 10, and that will be the period T of the simple pendulum.
8. Do at least 3 trials for each string length and find the average period. Record the
results in a results table
9. Square the average period and record the results in a results table.
10. Repeat steps 4-7 for each respective string length.
11. Represent the data with T2 (Square of the period of the pendulum) on the y-axis and L
(string length) on the x-axis on linear regression graph
 A. Results

String length L (m) Period of pendulum T (s)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
0.20 0.902 0.926 0.924 0.917
0.40 1.271 1.235 1.237 1.248
0.60 1.550 1.559 1.552 1.554
0.80 1.773 1.789 1.783 1.782
1.0 2.002 1.996 2.005 2.001
Figure 4 Table of trials and average period of the pendulum

String length L (m) Average period of Square of average period

Chart Title
pendulum T (s) T2 (s2)
4.5
A.
4
0.20 f(x) = 3.99 x 0.917 0.841
3.5
0.40 R² = 1 1.248 1.558
3
0.60 1.554 2.415
2.5
0.80 1.782 3.176 Square of average period T2 (s2)
2
1.0 2.001 4.004
1.5
1 Figure 5 Table of the square of the average period of a pendulum
A.
0.5
B.
0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1
C. 4.004

D.
E. 3.176

F.
2.415

1.558

0.841

String length L (m)

Figure 6 Linear regression graph of square of average period to string length

B. Discussion
 To find for the acceleration due to gravity g, the researcher followed the formula
L
T=2π
√
g
. However, following this formula, the period of the pendulum is not directly

proportional to the string length. To make the period and the string proportional to one
L
another, we must square the entire equation first. That will give us the equation T2= 4π2
g
. Following that, we could rearrange the equation into:
T2 4 π2
= so,
L g
2 4 π2
T = L
g
4 π2
The equation T 2= L gives us an equation where the square of the period is
g

4 π2
directly proportional to the length of the string, where is the constant. The equation
g

4 π2
2 4 π2
T = L also resembles the equation of a straight line where is the gradient of
g g
the equation and the y-intercept being equal to 0. According to Figure 6, which is a linear
regression graph, the gradient of our data is equal to 3.9933. According to our equation

4 π2
above, would be equal¿ 3.9933. Therefore, we are able to calculate for the value of g
g
.
4 π2
=3.9933
g
39.44
=3.9933
g
39.44=3.9933g
g= 9.88 m/s2

Through these calculations, we were able to calculate that value of g from this
experiment is close to the actual of g which is 9.81m/s2. Slight human errors during
timing for the period might have been made which resulted in the difference the actual
value of g and the value we calculated.
According to Figure 6, the correlation efficient is 0.9933, which is close to a
perfect linear relationship. This means that we can say that the relationship between the
 period of a pendulum and the string length is that the square of the period of a pendulum
is directly proportional to the string length.
IV. Conclusion
A. Conclusion
The researchers were able to conclude that using the pendulum method, the value of g
calculated was 9.88m/s2 which is close to the actual value of 9.81m/s 2. The researchers
were also able to conclude that the square of the period of a pendulum is directly
proportional to the length of the string.
B. Future studies
Future studies to investigate the simple harmonic motion could be accomplished with a
spring-mass system. The experiment would be based off the formula:
m
T= 2π
√k
T in the formula is the period of the spring-mass system, m is the mass, and k is the spring
constant. In this future experiment, we could try to find the relationship between the
period of the spring-mass system and the mass of the spring itself. The future study might
also include for calculating the spring constant with different masses.
 V. References
[1] Adam Augustyn, Patricia Bauer, Brian Duignan, Alison Eldridge, Erik Gregersen, Amy
McKenna, Melissa Petruzzello, John P. Rafferty, Michael Ray, Kara Rogers, Amy Tikkanen, Jeff
Wallenfeldt, Adam Zeidan, and Alicja Zelazko. https://www.britannica.com/science/simple-
harmonic-motion. 5/5/2020
[2] Kanginan, M. 2016. FISIKA UNTUK SMA/MA KELAS X
[3] Salman Khan. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-physics-1/simple-harmonic-motion-
ap/spring-mass-systems-ap/a/simple-harmonic-motion-of-spring-mass-systems-ap. 5/5/2020
[4] [3] David Sang, Graham Jones, Gurinder Chadha, Richard Woodside. 2014. CAMBRIDGE
INTERNATIONAL AS AND A LEVELS PHYSICS COURSEBOOK