A group of students investigates the relationship between the period of a small-angle…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Further mechanics and thermal physics · Further mechanics and thermal physics
Problem
A group of students investigates the relationship between the period T of a small-angle pendulum and its length ℓ by collecting the data shown in the table.
Length ℓ (m) | Measured Period T (s)
0.40 | 1.27
0.60 | 1.55
0.80 | 1.79
1.00 | 2.02
(a) Describe a method, including any necessary data transformation, that allows the students to determine the local gravitational field g from these measurements.
(b) Carry out the method you described to compute a numerical estimate for g. Show all intermediate steps.
(c) The accepted local value is 9.80ms−2. Calculate the percent error of the students’ result.
(d) Based on your analysis and the physical principles of pendulum motion, discuss two plausible systematic errors in the experimental procedure that could account for the discrepancy.