Department of Petrochemical

College of Technical Engineering

Duhok Polytechnic University

physical lab.
1
Year Level
st

Name of student: Muhammad Akram

Muhammad
Group: B
Name of experiment: simple motion pendulum
No. of experiment: 1
Date: 27/4/2016
Introduction:
The motion which repeats itself after fixed time intervals is
called periodic motion. A string with a mass at the end which
is free to swing is called a pendulum. The ball moves to and
fro. It rises to extreme positions on both sides and reverses
its motion. Oscillations gradually die down. The length of the
string from the point of suspension to the mass is called the
length of the pendulum. It is denoted by L. The central
position of the pendulum (the starting position) is called the
mean position of the pendulum.
It is labeled here as B.

A and C are the extreme positions of the pendulum. The

motion of the mass from its extreme position A to C and back
to A is called an oscillation. The time taken for one oscillation

is very short and therefore, difficult to measure accurately. To

find the time taken, we find the time taken for large number
say 20 oscillations. This time divided by 20 will give us time
taken for one oscillation. The time taken to complete one
oscillation is called the periodic time of the simple pendulum.
It is sometimes also called its period and is denoted by T.

Apparatus and materials:

Stop watch
Simple pendulum
Measuring tape

Procedure:
1. We hold the pendulum and set up the length by 50
cm which is mean 0.5 meter
2. We use stop watch after we let the small angle
oscillate and we replace the pendulum with the small

angle and we will measure 20 oscillate by stop watch

to get our time.
3. We will do the same step to get t2 and t3 .
4. We do 20 other oscillation but this time with
0.6,0.7,0.8,0.9 and
1 meter and we measure it like step 2 and 3.
5. We write the result in the table
6. We draw T=

t
20

on the y-axis and L on the x-axis.

we will get straight line.

1
g

is the slope of straight line.

Calculating G from the slope:

L
(mete
r)

t1

0.5

0.70

0.6

0.77

0.7

0.83

0.8

0.89

0.9

0.95

1.0

sec

28.5
0
31.0
9
33.6
6
36.1
5
38.3
4
39.9
7

t2

t3

sec

sec

28.5
9
31.1
8
33.6
9
35.9
7
38.2
5
40.0
0

28.5
0
31.1
8
33.7
2
33.1
6
38.2
5
40.0
0

t=
1+2+3
3

t=
t
20

28.53 1.43
31.15 1.56
33.69 1.68
36.1

1.81

38.28 1.91
39.99 1.99

Discussion: (questions)
Does T depend of the mass of the sphere of the
pendulum?
Basically, the mass does not affect the frequency of a pendulum.
At least that's the case for a "regular" pendulum that has a mass
on the end of a string.
The period for an ideal pendulum is given by

T=2

L
G

T = period (amount of time for one complete cycle)

L = length of the string
g = acceleration due to gravity
The frequency is simply the reciprocal of the period or

f=1/T

Substitute from equation (9) into equation (8)

and check that equation (9) is correct solution
for equation (8)?

Yes its correct answer because equation 9 came from

equation 8

 If you do the same experiment at sea level, will

you get higher or lower value of g? why?
It's faster at sea level because The force of gravity increases
as the distance between the centers of two objects
increases, so an object will weigh slightly higher at the sea
level than at mountain because it is near from the center of
the planet.

Conclusion
1. The period of the simple pendulum oscillations does not depend on the mass of
the load, nor on the angle of revolution.
2. The period of the simple pendulum oscillations increases as the length of the
pendulum increases.
3. The period of the simple pendulum oscillations varies as square of the length
of pendulum.
4. The acceleration due to gravity can be found experimentally from the
dependence Period vs. Length. The value I evaluated from my experiments is in
good agreement with the one measured before me.
5. The table and plot have been prepared to measure the length without the ruler,
through the period of oscillations