Sample physics lab report Determination of the Gravitation Constant g by Means of a Simple Pendulum

John Long School of Engineering and Technology Deakin University Aim This experiment was performed to determine the gravitational acceleration of objects close to the surface of the earth, by observing the motion of a simple pendulum. Introduction A simple pendulum, figure 1, displaced through a small angle , will oscillate back and forth about its equilibrium position with period T. T is the time the pendulum takes to make one complete back-and-forth motion. The bob is hung from a rigid support on a string of length L.

Figure 1: The simple pendulum. For oscillations where the angle is small, the period T is related to the length L of the string and the gravitation constant g by
T = 2 L g

Squaring both sides of this equation yields

T 2 = 4 2 L g

If one measures the period of a pendulum as a function of the length of the string, then a plot of T2 as a function of L will yield a straight line with a gradient G; and

Reproduced from the Unit Guides for SEP 101 and SEP 115

g=

4 2 G

Experimental Method A simple pendulum was produced from a length of string and a fishing sinker. The sinker was displaced through an angle less than 10 degrees and released. For five different lengths of string between 23 and 100 cm, the period of oscillation was measured. In each measurement, the pendulum was allowed to oscillate 50 times. The total time for 50 oscillations was measured with a stopwatch, and the period was calculated by dividing the total time for 50 oscillations by 50. The stopwatch measures time to 0.01 seconds. However, it is estimated that the total reaction time of the experimenter was 0.2 seconds. Thus the uncertainty of any original measurement of time was taken to be 0.2 seconds. With a metre rule, the length of the string was measured to the nearest millimetre. The length of the string was measured from the support to the centre of the bob. Results and Calculations Table 1 shows the results of the experiment, and the plot of T2 versus L is given in figure 2. String Length (m) 0.975 0.812 0.597 0.411 0.235 Time for 50 Time T for one oscillations (s) oscillation (s) 97.3 1.95 88.7 1.77 75.6 1.51 61.9 1.24 45.9 0.918 Table 1: Pendulum data. Period squared (s2) 3.80 3.13 2.28 1.54 0.843

The uncertainty in each measurement of length is 0.001 m. The uncertainty in each measurement of time for 50 oscillations, T1 is 0.2 s. Thus the uncertainty in any measurement of the period is

T =

T1 0.2 s = = 0.004 s 50 50

The period is squared prior to plotting. The relative uncertainty in the period squared is twice the relative uncertainty in the period:

(T 2 ) T 0.008 s =2 = 2 T T T

Reproduced from the Unit Guides for SEP 101 and SEP 115

Solving for T,
(T 2 ) = 2 T 2 T = 2T ( T ) = (0.008 s) T T

Thus the uncertainty in T2 is proportional to T. The largest data point is for T2 = 3.80 s2. The uncertainty in this datum is (T 2 ) = (0.008 s) (1.95 s) = 0.0156 s 2 . The maximum uncertainty in T2 is thus 0.4 %. The error bars associated with T2 are too small to plot on a graph. Similarly, the error bars associated with L are also too small to plot on the graph.
2 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0.235 0.411 0.597 length (m) 0.812 0.975

Figure 2: Plot of T2 as a function of L. A straight line fits the data well. The gradient of the line of best fit can be calculated from
( 35 . 0.50) s2 3.0 s 2 rise G= = = = 3.95 s 2 / m run (0.90 0.14) m 0.76 m

and
g= 4 2 4 2 = = 9.99 m / s 2 G 3.95 s 2 / m

To work out the uncertainty in the gradient, an alternative line of best fit was selected, and its gradient is given by
Galt = (3.75 2.50) s 2 1.25 s 2 = = 4.03 s 2 / m (0.95 0.64) m 0.31 m

The uncertainty in G is the difference of these 2 gradients:

G = (Galt G ) = (4.03 3.95) s2 / m = 0.08 s2 / m

Reproduced from the Unit Guides for SEP 101 and SEP 115

The percent uncertainty in G, and thus in g is

G g 0.08 = = = 2% G g 3.95

Thus the experimentally determined value of the gravitation constant is g = 9.99 m/s2 2 %. Discussion The accepted value1 of g is 9.81 m/s2. The accuracy of the results is
accuracy = g observed g expected g expected = (9.99 9.81) m / s 2 = +2% 9.81 m / s 2

The experimentally determined value of g agrees with the accepted value to within the experimental uncertainty. Thus this experiment was a successful and accurate determination of g, even with the simple apparatus. The bob used in this experiment is in the shape of a triangular wedge. The centre of mass was estimated (guessed) for the bob, and the length of the string was consistently measured to that point. The accuracy of the length of the string did not matter in this experiment so long as the length was always measured in the same way. The gravitation constant was determined from the change in T2 as L changed. This change is static, regardless of where the end of the string was taken to be. Any errors in estimating where the string ended will merely shift the plot up or down. It will not affect the gradient. An interesting further experiment would be to collect more data points for small L, and see if the plotted data pass through the origin. Another interesting investigation would be to perform the experiment for large angles of displacement . The theory assumes that this angle is small. Further experiments could investigate how the determination of g in this technique is affected by an increasing angle of displacement. Conclusion By means of a simple pendulum, the value of the gravitation constant was determined to be g = 9.99 m/s2 2 %. This agreed with the accepted value, 9.81 m/s2, to within the experimental uncertainty. References
1. Deakin University (1997), SEP101 Unit Guide. 2. Halliday, D., Resnick, R., and Walker, J. (1993), Fundamentals of Physics, 4th edn (extended), John Wiley & Sons, New York. 3. Ohanian, H.C. (1994), Principles of Physics , Norton, New York.

Halliday, Resnick and Walker give g to one decimal place: g = 9.8 m/s2. However, Ohanian gives it to two decimal places: g = 9.81 m/s2.
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Reproduced from the Unit Guides for SEP 101 and SEP 115