B58MB – Dynamic A

Short Lab Report Sheet

Trifilar Suspension Experiment

Please consult the Lab sheet for the Trifilar Suspension Experiment

Student Name : Dharmaal Manie Bin Mohd Manimaran

HW ID : H00334938
Max Mark=5
1. Using the supplied theory and the catalogue of mass moments of inertia calculate the
mass moment of inertia, I and period, T for the circular platform. Take the mass of
the platform to be 3 kg and take L (the length of the vertical chains) to be 1.5m

mr 2
I 0=
2
Assuming r=0.065m
3× 0.0652
¿
2

I 0=6.34 × 10−3 ¿2 d . p
LI
T =2 π
√ mgR 2
1.5× 6.3375 ×10−3
T =2 π
3 × 9.8× 0.0652
T =1.74 s

2. Calculate the mass moment of inertia, I and the period, T for the circular platform
with a steel cylinder (mcyl=6.82 kg, diameter=126mm) at the edge of the circular
platform as shown below.

300 mm

174 mm

Mass of circular platform=10kg

 B58MB – Dynamic A

Mass of steel cylinder=6.82kg

1
I cylinder = m R 2+ mr cylinder 2
2
¿ ( 0.5 ×6.82 × 0.0632 )+(6.82 ×0.237 2)
¿ 0.396 6
1
I total= m R2 + I cylinder❑
2
¿ ( 0.5 ×1 6.82 ×0. 32 ) +(0.3966)
¿ 1.0535
LI
T =2 π
For set 1
√ mgR 2

L=0.83m
0.83 ×1.0535
T =2 π
For set 2
√ 16.82 × 9.8× 0.32
=1.5 3 s

L=0.53m
0. 5 3 ×1.0535
T =2 π
√ 16.82 × 9.8× 0.32
=1.22 s

3. From the pre-determined experimental data, show how to calculate the theoretical
period of oscillation.

For the theoretical period of oscillation, the formula used to find T is as follows
LI
T =2 π

mr 2
√mgR 2
where I is equivalent to

I 0=
2

For set 1et m=10kg, r=0.065m and L=083m

10× 0.0652
I 0= =0.021125
2

0.83 ×0.021125
T =2 π =1.29 s
10× 9.8 ×0.065 2

For set 2 let L=0.53m

0.53 ×0.021125
T =2 π =1.03 s
10× 9.8 ×0.065 2

4. From the measure experimental data, show how to calculate the experimental period
of oscillation.
Time taken for 20 oscillations
 B58MB – Dynamic A

Reading set1 (s) set2 (s)

1 42.07 31.36
2 42.6 31.21
3 42 30.79
  42.22333 31.12
Average time taken for one oscillation (t/20)
Time (s) 2.111167 1.556

Using a stopwatch, measure the time taken for 20 oscillations. Take the average of
three readings for better accuracy. Then to find out the time per oscillation, divide
average time taken by the number of oscillations, 20.

Time vs radius of gyration for experimental and calcuated data

2.5
2.11
2

1.56
1.5 1.29 calculated values
Time/s

1.03 experimental values

1

0.5

0
0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.3

Radius of gyration/m

5. How does the theoretical value/s compare to the experimental? Explain your findings.
Figure 1: Time vs radius of gyration for set 1 and 2 of experimental and calculated data.

The mass and radius of the solid were kept constant and the only variable that changed was
time. From the graph it is visible that the experimental period of oscillation takes much
longer than the theoretical period. This may be due to human error from choosing when to
start and stop the stopwatch as well as errors from air resistance. Upon calculating the
percentage errors for set 1 it was 64% whereas for set 2 it was 51%. Since the error between
the experimental and calculated values are quite significant, it proves that other forces
involved during the experiment play a fundamental part in calculating the time per oscillation
at different lengths. Finally, as the length increases the time increases since l ≈T 2.