Pendulum period
Booklet (PDF)

Overview

Pendulum period

Does a pendulum's period change as its swing gets smaller? This method times a pendulum at a large and at a small swing, compares the two periods, and revises the starting hypothesis.

Method

  1. Prepare, by assistant
  2. Observe, by assistant
  3. Compare, by researcher
  4. Revise

Performers

assistant
kind: human; role: laboratory assistant. Stages: Prepare, Observe
researcher
kind: human; role: scientist. Stages: Compare

Hypotheses

shorter-swing
A smaller swing has a shorter period.

Assumptions

hand-timing
Hand timing is comparable across trials.

Conclusions

regular-period
The period stayed nearly constant as the swing got smaller.

Requirements