Why does length affect the period of a pendulum

1. Did the period of the pendulum swing depend on the mass of the bob? On the length of the string? On the displacement? How does your data relate to the pendulum equation? You need not include your data tables and graphs, but you should explain your answer based on the information in your data tables and graphs.

Answer: Observing the data from the lab and the tables, I can say that as the mass of the bob increased, so did the period of the pendulums swing. The graph for part 1 of this lab shows that as the mass of the bob increased from 50g to 400g, the average of the period also increased very gradually with each weight that was added despite the angle of the angle of the string being the same and also the length of the string being the same. However the average of the period that increased with each mass was very little and can be negotiated as the mass of the bob did not really affect the swing of the pendulum much and any data that shows that the mass does effect the period of pendulum can be explained through either human or experimental errors.

In the data from the 3rd part of the lab and graph we can see that the length of the string also caused a difference in the average period of the pendulum swing. In the 3rd part I test to see if the same mass and same angle but changing the length of the string would make a difference in the period of the pendulum swing. The results confirm that the length of the string also affects the period of pendulum. The length of string differed fro 0.10m to 0.40m. In each case where a length was added to the string, it tool longer for each path of periodic motion, which further resulted in longer length of string more period of pendulum. The longer the string will result in longer period of the swing as the length the period has to travel increases.

In the second part of the lab we tested if the displacement affects the period of the pendulum swing. I tested the different angular displacements along with the period of the pendulum. Looking at the table I can say that the displacement does affect the period of the pendulum. The angular displacements tested were 45°-15° and what can be observed is that as the angular displacement increased the period of the pendulum also increased.

And so the greater the displacement, the greater the period of pendulum, as the higher the arc at which the bob was released, the more time it will take for the bob to travel the distance it has to travel .