Experiment 2

Faculty Of Engineering And Information

Technology
MEE 3219 Engineering Dynamics

Lab Report
Experiment 2: Equation of Motion of
Compound Pendulum
Name
Program
ID

: Ehsan Samoh
: BMEGI
: I14005275

Date of experiment conducted

Jan 2015

: 28th of

Experiment 2

1.

Introduction

Simple pendulum is simply a concentrated mass m attached to one of the ends of a mass-less
cord of length l, while the other end is fitted as a point of oscillation, such that the mass is
free to oscillate about that fixed point in the vertical plane. The compound pendulum differs
from the simple one in that it has a mass distribution along its length -that is its mass is not
concentrated at a given point-, therefore it has a mass moment of inertia I about its mass
centre.
Any rigid body that has a mass m, and mass moment of inertia I and suspended at a given
distance h from its centre of gravity represents a compound pendulum.
It should be realised in the derivation of the governing equations, that the angle of
oscillation of the pendulum, simple or compound, should be small.

Gravity exerts a force on every object. This force is proportional to the mass of the object.
The proportionality constant is the acceleration of gravity "g." The gravity acceleration (g)
decreases with increasing elevation; however, for a few thousand feet above the Earth's
surface, it remains fairly constant. In this experiment, a simple pendulum will be
used to measure "g ." A simple pendulum is made of a long string and a tiny metal
sphere, steel or preferably lead (higher density). The period of oscillation of a simple
pendulum may be found by the formula

As the first formula shows, the stronger the gravitational pull (the more massive a
planet), the greater the value of g , and therefore, the shorter the period of
oscillations of a pendulum swinging on that planet. If the pendulum has a steel
ball, and a magnet is placed underneath the arc where it travels back and forth as it
swings, the pace of oscillation does change and it swings faster. Swinging faster
results in a shorter period T. Symbol g is in the denominator. A greater g means
a smaller T.

Many things in nature wiggle in a periodic fashion. That is, they vibrate. One such
2

Experiment 2

example is a simple pendulum. If we suspend a mass at the end of a piece of string, we have
a simple pendulum. Here, the to and fro motion represents a periodic motion used in times
past to control the motion. Such oscillatory motion is called simple harmonic motion. It was
Galileo who first observed that the timea pendulum takes to swing back and forth through
small distances depends only on the length of the pendulum The time of this to and fro
motion, called the period, does not depend on the mass of the pendulum or on the size of the
arc through which it swings.
Another factor involved in the period of motion is, the acceleration due to gravity (g), which
on the earth is 9.8 m/s2. It follows then that a long pendulum has a greater period than a
shorter pendulum

2. Procedure and material

Equipment: Compound Pendulum apparatus LS-1232, stopwatch

apparatus LS-1232
to record time

Stopwatch use

Procedure:
1.

Fit a bob-weight onto a meter long bar.

2.

Adjust the suspension of the weight

along the bar to fix a pivot.

3.

Displace the pendulums center

gravity to set it into oscillation.

4.

Start the stopwatch once the pendulum

is in a steady state or simple harmonic
motion.

5.

Record the time taken for 3 oscillations

in Table 5.1.

6.

Repeat the experiment by taking the

time taken for 5, 7, or more oscillations

of

Experiment 2

for a more precise value for the time taken for 1 oscillation.
Record the data in Tables 5.2 and 5.3.
7.

Divide the time taken for total oscillations with the number of
oscillations to get the time, t for one oscillation.

8.

Plot the graph of time2, t2 versus length of cord, l.

9. Draw the best possible straight line through 0,0 and the five graphed
points, not
necessarily touching any of the points (figure 2a).

10. Find the slope of your line.

3.

Data and discussion

1. Distance from pivot to center of gravity x = 16.5 cm

Oscillation
30
40
50
Average

Time t, (s)
i
ii
iii
avg
42.07
41.53
42.21
41.93
56.31
56.23
56.30
56.28
68.35
70.06
69.43
69.43
time for 1 oscillation = 1.36 s
Table 3.1

Average time for 30 oscillation =

42.07+ 41.53+ 42,21

3

Time for 1 oscillation

1.39
1.40
1.38

= 41.93

Experiment 2

Time for 1 oscillation =

41.93
30

Average time for 40 oscillation =

Time for 1 oscillation =

56.28
40

Average time for 50 oscillation =

Time for 1 oscillation =

69.43
50

Average time for 1 oscillation =

= 1.39

56.31+56.23+56.30
3

= 56.28

= 1.40

68.35+ 70.06+69.43
3

= 69.43

= 1.38

1.39+1.40+ 1.38
3

= 1.36

2. Distance from pivot to center of gravity x = 19.5 cm

Oscillation
30
40
50
Average

Time t, (s)
i
ii
iii
avg
43.12
43.34
43.07
43.17
57.33
57.74
57.50
57.52
70.66
71.14
71.54
71.11
time for 1 oscillation = 1.42 s
Table 3.2

Average time for 30 oscillation =

Time for 1 oscillation =

43.17
30

Average time for 40 oscillation =

43.12+43.34+ 43.07
3

Time for 1 oscillation

1.43
1.43
1.42

= 43.17

= 1.43

57.33+57.74 +57.50
3

= 57.52

Experiment 2

Time for 1 oscillation =

57.52
40

= 1.43

Average time for 50 oscillation =

Time for 1 oscillation =

71.11
50

70.66+ 71.14+71.54
3

= 71.11

= 1.42

Average time for 1 oscillation =

1.43+1.43+ 1.43
3

= 1.42

3. Distance from pivot to center of gravity x = 22.5 cm

Oscillation
30
40
50
Average

Time t, (s)
i
ii
iii
avg
46.82
45.27
45.67
45.92
59.95
59.48
59.56
59.66
74.00
74.17
74.42
74.19
time for 1 oscillation = 1.5 s
Table 3.3

Average time for 30 oscillation =

Time for 1 oscillation =

45.92
30

Average time for 40 oscillation =

Time for 1 oscillation =

59.66
40

46.82+45.27+ 45.67
3

Time for 1 oscillation

1.53
1.49
1.48

= 45.92

= 1.53

59.95+59.48+ 59.56
3

= 59.66

= 1.49

Experiment 2

74.00+74.17 +74.42
3

Average time for 50 oscillation =

Time for 1 oscillation =

74.19
50

= 74.19

= 1.48

Average time for 1 oscillation =

1.53+1.49+1.48
3

= 1.5

The graph of length versus time of cord is plotted based on the results.

Length vs Length
25

22.5
19.5

20
16.5
15

lenght of string / cm
10
5
0
1.34

1.36

1.38

1.4

1.42

1.44

1.46

1.48

1.5

1.52

TIme for 1 oscillation / s

From the graph length vs time it is seen that as the length increase, the average
time for one oscillation increase. The time difference is very less between the
each length.
Two points from the graph are taken to calculate the slope of the graph
G=

4
slope(of graph t vs l)

(1.5, 22.5) (1.36, 16.5)

Experiment 2

Slope =

G=

22.516.5
1.51.36

4
42.8

42.8

0.92

Whats Going On
The calculation g 42/slope should give a value of g close to 9.8 m/sec2,
the generally accepted value of g. The range of error should be from
about 9.2 m/sec2 to 10.1 m/s. If the procedure is done very carefully. 3
value are not enough to demonstrate. There is also some error in
measuring the length of the pendulum.
Connections
It is difficult to directly measure the acceleration due to gravity (g).
However, it is possible to indirectly measure gravity very accurately using
a pendulum. The time it takes a pendulum to complete one back-and-forth
swing, called the pendulums period, depends only on the pendulums
length and the value of gravity.

4.

Conclusion

Overall the experiment was successful. The effect of the fulcrum position
was observed when changing the length. This resulted in different times
taken for a single oscillation. The acceleration due to gravity as well as the
radius of gyration were calculated using formulas. This enabled us to
verify the equation of motion for a compound pendulum.

5.

Reference

1. Pellissipi state community college available at

http://www.pstcc.edu/departments/natural_behavioral_sciences/Web
%20Physics/Experiment%2004web.htm

2. SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS ON FILE Revised Edition

Experiment 2
3. KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE available at

http://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/academicdepartments/physci/science25/d
ocuments/exp_2.pdf