The Effect Of String Length On The Period Of A Pendulum

The unit question asks whether or not the hero of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” would realistically be able to escape the descending blade swinging on a pendulum. The question is a matter of time, is it feasible for the protagonist to escape the pendulum with the allotted amount of time. Based on standard deviation and testing a pendulum of the same scale as the one mentioned in the story, the answer is no. The protagonist mentions that he believed 10-12 periods of the pendulum would result in the blade coming in contact with his torso. Using the formula developed in class for the period of a pendulum, it would take the 30 foot pendulum described in the story about 72 seconds to complete 12 periods. Testing the actual 30 foot yielded similar results within 1-2 seconds of 72 seconds. Therefore, it is fair to say that the hero is working with 72 seconds to free himself. This does not seem like enough time to develop an escape strategy, act on the strategy, and leave without getting hit bit the pendulum. The method the hero describes involves thinking about the situation and then employing the help of nearby rats. He also mentions, “Yet one minute, and I felt that the struggle would be over,” as if to imply he had 1 minute to spare. Since he was reflecting and then enticing the rats to gnaw through the rope it is not likely that it took only 12 seconds to escape. 72 seconds does not seem like enough time for the hero to complete his escape. However, the thickness of the rope and speed of the rats are factors that could affect the outcome.

The pendulum was pulled to about 15 cm from the motion detector. In case of the mass on a spring, the mass was pulled till just a few inches away from the motion detector.

The Pit and the Pendulum is about a man who is sentenced to THE PIT during the Spanish Inquisition. The story starts out as describing his trial and quick sentence to THE PIT. Next as he is in

Create 2 more data tables like this for trials 2 and 3 so you can record your data.

To begin the experiment, we measured the masses of the two stoppers and the eye bolt used to secure the stoppers that we were using in our apparatus. The mass of the first stopper was 18.8 grams and the mass of the second stopper was 50.5 grams. The mass of the eye bolt was 11.6 grams. The mass of the screw and bolt that secured our hanging mass was given to us as 25 grams. After, we chose six different hanging masses based on stopper mass. We made sure that the hanging mass was always larger than the stopper mass or else we would not be able to get the stopper to spin at a constant velocity. The first three mass ratios we chose was using the stopper with the mass of 18.8 grams and then we used a hanging mass (the mass of the screw and bolt is included) of 65 grams, 85 grams, and 105 grams. This gave the three mass

Hold one ball beside the top of the meter stick with the ZERO end touching the table.

Loosen the retaining screw and adjust the horizontal arm to the dimple that produce the 2nd largest radius between the spinning mass and the rotating shift. Allow the spinning mass to hang straight down, without being connected to the spring. Position the pointer directly below the tip of spinning mass and secure the pointer to the base. Use the scale located on the base to determine the radius, r, of the pointer from the rotating shaft. Record this value onto Data Sheet A. The experimental uncertainty in r is estimated to be the width of the spinning mass tip – approximately 0.2 cm.

5. Tie one end of the 60-cm string to the mass. Place the mass on a table below

Measure the initial width, length, and thickness of the steel specimen using a Dial Caliper. Relieve pressure in Amatrol T9014 and adjust the height of the bottom platform to insert steel specimen. Insert one pin into the bottom platform to hold the steel specimen into the fixture. Slide two locking bars down the steel specimen. Adhere one locking bar to the bottom of the specimen and one at the top, lock them in place using the attached thumb screws. Insert the Linear Vernier Caliper in the top locking bar and zero out the caliper, allowing it to rest on the bottom locking bar. Compress the hydraulic cylinder until the indicator reads a force of zero. Lock the Linear Vernier Caliper in place by tightening the top thumb screw. [1] Compress

Repeat step number seven 19 more times or until ten minutes are up. Do this

Determine the 1-RM within at least four times including resting time of three to five minutes between each trail.

3.Secure the other end of the tube into the hole located on the rubber stopper

Controlled Variable – Same amount of air resistant (stay in the same room), same surface of what the trolley is going to accelerate on, same trolley, have the string equally stretched out every time and same tick rate of the ticker timer. The controlled variable will be controlled to create a fair test.

A simple pendulum consists of a mass that is attached to a string of length ‘L’ that is fixed to a point, in this case, a cork suspended by a clamp stand. This allows the mass to be suspended vertically downwards and allows it to be displayed at an angle that it swings. A period ‘T’ of oscillation is the time required for one complete swing. For this to happen ideally its mass must swing from an angle that is

Below are two tables in which I have recorded the data which I obtained during the experiment. The first table reflects the Relationship between the deflection/flexion of the cantilever and the mass of the load and the second table reflects the relationship between the flexion of the cantilever and the length of the cantilever.