INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL SCHOOL (IMS)

FOUNDATION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE

LAB REPORT 4: MEASURING g BY USING A PENDULUM

LECTURER’S NAME: NOORHANALIZA BINTI BERAHAN

GROUP MEMBERS ID NUMBER PHOTO

YUN JIA YI 012021070204

YUSZRIN IRDINA BINTI MOHD 012021070436

YUSRI

THIVISHA A/P DARMALINGAM 012021070191

 GROUP MEMBERS ID NUMBER PHOTO

SHAKIRAH QASRINA BINTI 012021070435

SHARMIZAN

SITI SOFIA BINTI SAFUDDIN 012021070345

ROHAN JEREMIAH A/L JACOB 012021070363

ARULRAJ
Introduction

Many things in nature wobble at regular intervals. That is, they vibrate. One such example is
a simple pendulum. Multiply the ends of the strings by the mass to get a simple pendulum.
The reciprocating motion here is a periodic motion used in the past to control the movement
of the grandfather's clock and cuckoo clock. Such a vibrating motion is known as simple
vibration. It was Galileo who first observed that the time it takes for the pendulum to swing
back and forth over a short distance, depends only on the length of the pendulum , or the
size of the swinging arc of the pendulum. Another factor related to the motion cycle is the
gravitational acceleration (g), which is 9.8 m / s 2 on Earth. Therefore, a long pendulum has
a longer period than a short pendulum.

Assuming a small angle, the pendulum frequency and period are independent of the initial
angular displacement amplitude. All simple pendulums should have the same period
regardless of the initial angle (and regardless of mass). The period T of a simple pendulum
does not depend on mass or initial angular displacement, but according to , it depends only
on the values of chord length L and gravitational field strength g.

As illustrated in the picture to the right, a basic pendulum has a mass, m (bob), suspended
from a string of length, l that is fixed at a pivot point. When the mass is moved to a tiny
starting angle and then released, it swings back and forth in a periodic motion. The period is
the amount of time it takes to complete one full swing, whereas the amplitude is the angle of
release relative to the vertical. The period of motion of a basic pendulum may be represented
by the equation, for modest swings.

𝑙
𝑇 = 2π 𝑔

Where T is the time period for one full swing L is the length of the pendulum and g is the
acceleration of free fall.
Objective
To measure the time a pendulum takes to oscillate and to calculate the value for the
acceleration due to gravity
Apparatus
● Lab simulation
Procedure
1. The link was opened.
2. The diagram was set up as shown below

3. The length of the pendulum to the middle of the pendulum bob is measured and
recorded in the results table.
4. The angle was set and the pendulum was set in motion
5. The time to complete 10 back and forth oscillations was measured and recorded.
6. The period, T, for one oscillation is calculated by using the recorded time for 10
oscillations divided by 10.
7. the period, T for one oscillation is recorded in the table
8. Steps 3 to 6 were repeated with different lengths from 0.1m to 1.0m.
9. The results were recorded and tabulated.
Results

Length, Time of oscillations, t(s) Period, T2 (s2) g

L(m) T (s)
1 2 3 Average

0.1 06.68 06.66 06.66 06.67 0.67 0.45 10

0.2 09.65 09.46 09.46 09.52 0.95 0.90 10

0.3 11.53 11.53 11.49 11.52 1.15 1.32 10

0.4 13.32 13.30 13.32 13.31 1.33 1.77 10

0.5 14.88 14.90 14.93 14.90 1.50 2.25 10

0.6 16.29 16.29 16.29 16.29 1.63 2.66 10

0.7 17.60 17.60 17.65 17.62 1.76 3.10 10

0.8 18.84 18.86 18.83 18.85 1.89 3.57 9

 Discussion
Plot the graph T2 (s2) against L(m) in the graph paper.

The graph above shows the period against length. The period of the pendulum increased
while the length of the strings was increased. Due to the graph we can know that the longer
the length of the strings the longer the period will take by the pendulum to reach 10 times of
oscillations.

A period is defined as one swing of the pendulum back and forth. Changing the length of a
pendulum while holding other elements constant alters the length of the pendulum's period.
Longer pendulums have a longer period because they swing at a lower frequency than shorter
pendulums.The length of the string influences the pendulum's period, therefore the longer the
string, the longer the pendulum's period. This also has an impact on the frequency of the
pendulum, which is the pace at which it swings back and forth. A longer-stringed pendulum
has a lower frequency, which means it swings back and forth less frequently in a given
amount of time than a shorter-stringed pendulum. Because each cycle takes more time, the
pendulum with the longer string completes fewer back and forth cycles in a given period of
time.
By using the simulation, it can be concluded that when the friction is increased to
intermediate, the friction becomes greater. As a result, the pendulum started to move at a
gradually decreasing angle if compared to the initial angle (50°). However, increasing the
friction did not affect the period of the oscillation of the pendulum as it only affected the
angle of oscillation.
If the pendulum set-up was transferred to the surface of the Moon where the gravitational
acceleration is 1/6 that of the Earth, how does it affect the period of the pendulum? Verify
your answer using the simulation, select the Moon of the simulation page.

By using the simulation, when the gravity is changed to the gravity of the Moon, the period
of oscillation of the pendulum gets longer. As shown in the diagram, the period of the
pendulum is 46.34 seconds for 10 complete oscillations. If compared to the initial gravity
(Gravitational acceleration = Earth), the average period for 10 complete oscillations is 18.85
seconds. This shows that the Moon's surface gravity is weaker because it is far less massive
than Earth. The pendulum oscillates slower on the Moon because their acceleration toward
the surface is only ⅙ than what it would be on Earth.
 Conclusion
From the experiment, we can conclude that the time of oscillations will be affected by the
length of the string. The longer the string, the longer the time of oscillations. The time of
oscillations in earth and Jupiter are different .This is due to the difference of gravity between
these two planets. In Jupiter, the time of oscillation is shorter as this is because the gravity in
Jupiter is larger than the gravity on earth. We can conclude here that the larger the gravity
value,the shorter the time of oscillations.
References
1. Exploring Pendulums - Science NetLinks |AAAS Author |2021 October 23|
http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/exploring-pendulums/
2. Swinging on a String |University of Colorado Boulder | 02 November 2021|
https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_mechanics_lesson09