PHYSICS LAB REPORT 4 – COMPOUND

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PENDULUM

SCHOOL:
NICE

VENUE:
Lab (SNS)

SUBMITTED BY:
Group No # A5

 Haider Khan
 Hussain Ahmed
 Aadam Baluch
 Muhammad Usman
 Musa Mughal

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Abstract:
The purpose of performing this experiment was to find out the value of
gravitational acceleration “g”. In this experiment we learnt how to determine
its value using a compound pendulum and we also calculated the percentage
difference between our calculated value and the actual value to determine
how accurate and precise our experiment had been performed. After
performing this experiment we came to know that time period for same radius
of gyration for either of sides was almost the same every time. We also plotted
a graph of the time period of the bar pendulum against the distance from the
centers of gravity and used it to determine the radius of the gyration of the bar
pendulum as well as the total length of the pendulum so we basically learnt
that graphs can also help us determine the values that are needed in an
experiment.

Theory:

COMPOUND PENDULUM:
A pendulum consisting of any swinging rigid body, which is free to rotate about
a fixed horizontal axis, is called a compound pendulum or physical pendulum.

MOMENT OF INERTIA:
Moment of inertia is the mass property of a rigid body that defines the torque
needed for a desired change in angular velocity about an axis of rotation.

Where ‘k’ is the radius of gyration. It will be calculated using the graph.

TIME PERIOD:
The time needed for one vibration of the compound pendulum is known as the
time period of the pendulum. L is the distance between the pivot point and the

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center of mass of the pendulum. Time period of a rigid body is same as that of
a simple pendulum of length L. This is also known as equivalent pendulum. For
this;

PERCENTAGE ERROR:
𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆−𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆
Percentage Error = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆

Data analysis:
For side A For side B

No. Time for 20 Time Period Distance from No. Time for 20 Time Period Distance from
of vibrations(s 𝑡
point to center of vibrations(s 𝑡
point to center
Obs. ec) T= 20 /s of mass(m) Obs. ec) T= 20 /s of mass (m)

1 32.82 1.641 0.490 1 32.87 1.644 0.487

2 31.88 1.594 0.435 2 31.82 1.591 0.430

3 31.25 1.563 0.385 3 31.19 1.560 0.385

4 30.75 1.538 0.335 4 30.78 1.539 0.330

5 30.69 1.535 0.285 5 30.65 1.533 0.285

6 30.90 1.545 0.235 6 30.88 1.544 0.240

7 32.15 1.608 0.185 7 32.20 1.610 0.185

8 35.25 1.763 0.135 8 36.04 1.802 0.135

9 42.69 2.135 0.085 9 43.13 2.151 0.090

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Draw graph between ‘T’ and ‘x’ by taking time along y-axis and length along x-axis. There
will be two curves symmetric along y-axis.

Graph:

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From graph:

Side A:

A: 0.44m

B: 0.19m

C: 1.64m

D: 0.19m

E: 0.44m
(𝟎.𝟒𝟒+𝟎.𝟏𝟗)+(𝟎.𝟏𝟗+𝟎.𝟒𝟒)
L2= = 0.63m
𝟐

T2=1.6s
4π²L′
g2 = =9.72ms-2
T²

Side B:

A: -0.365m

B: -0.230m

C: 1.554m

D: 0.235m

E: 0.3675m
(𝟎.𝟐𝟑𝟓−(−𝟎.𝟑𝟔𝟓))+(𝟎.𝟑𝟔𝟕𝟓−(−𝟎.𝟐𝟑𝟎))
L1= = 0.59875m
𝟐

T1=1.55s
4π²L′
g1 = =9.84ms-2
T²

g1+g2 9.72 +9.84

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9.78−9.81
Percentage error in g = x 100%
9.81

= -0.360%

Now,

Radius of gyration is:

√(1.55+0.365)(1.55+0.235)+√(1.55+0.3675)(0.23+1.55)
k1 = = 1.563
2

√(1.6+0.44)(1.6+0.19)+√(1.6+0.44)(0.19+1.6)
k2 = = 1.991
2

Now we will find out the moment of inertia by using the formula:

I = Mk2 (given that mass of rod is 1.6kg)

I1 = 1.6(1.563) = 2.501

I2 = 1.6(1.911) = 3.0576
I1+I2 2.501+3.0576
Iavg = =
2 2

Iavg = 2.7793

Conclusions:
With the help of this experiment we concluded that the value of gravitational
acceleration that we found was nearly equal to actual value of it. We learnt
many things from the experiments. We learnt how to determine the
acceleration due to gravity (g) using a bar pendulum and also learnt that there
are two pivot points on either side of the Centre of Gravity (C.G.) about which
the time period is the same.