Pendulum Lab - What Influences the Swing?

pendulum

Project Goals :

Materials: String, masking tape, timers, washers or paper clips to serve as weights.

Project Guidelines

The instructions are left vague because it is up to you and your group to determine a hypothesis, design a test for the hypothesis and present your findings in a lab report.

Some questions to consider with your lab partner before you get started:

1. You are working with two variables (length and weight), do you want to have a separate hypothesis for each variable?

2. How will you write your hypothesis, traditionally it is written as an if-then statement. Two statements with two separate tests are acceptable, just be clear in how you write it.

3. How will you measure the number of swings? 60 seconds, 30 seconds?

4. How will you make sure each test is the same? Will you always drop the pendulum in the same way? How will you secure the pendulum? Why is holding the pendulum in your hand not a good idea?

Lab Report

You will prepare a lab report individually. Be sure that each member of the group has a copy of the data, reports will share data, but conclusions and writing are individual. Your report should include:

1. Introduction: (Includes hypothesis and purpose)

2. Procedure (explains how you will test it, pictures can be used)

3. Data table :

4. Conclusions - Make sure you use your data to answer the question. Remember you have two variables in the experiement - length and weight. Both may have differing affects on the number of swings. Its up to you to find out exactly how each variable changes the pendulum's period (swings per minute)

5. Use the grading rubric to check that you have all parts of the lab report included. Your teacher may require you to type the report.

Grading Rubric
  Needs Work (1) Satisfactory (2) Excellent (3)
Introduction & Hypothesis Experiment objective is not clear, hypothesis would be difficult to test; reader does not get a clear sense of what will happen in the experiment Hypothesis is a testable statement, with a clear goal. Variables are included, or a statement that explains what tests will be conducted. Clearly written as an if..then statement that can be tested in an experiment. Variables clearly stated and are separated with respect to the prediction.
Procedure Procedure is lacking details, could not easily be repeated, missing sketches Explanation of procedure is included; unclear at parts or missing sketch Clear explanation shows how data was collected, including a sketch of the lab set-up.
Data Tables Data is minimal, disorganized, trends not evident, looks like a rough draft Data is included, but parts may be difficult to read. Trends are not obvious. Some labels may be unclear. Organized, each column or row is labeled, any reader can clearly see the trends in the data. Graphs
Conclusions Concluding statements unclear or off topic. Data is not used to support statement or conclusions do not follow data. Data is used to state an outcome of the experiment, supporting statements (data) unclear or missing elements, conclusion only partly follows data The data is used to clearly state the outcome of the experiment; the hypothesis is either supported or rejected, conclusion follows data.
Data Gathering ( experiment) Student did not remain on task, did not clean up or return equipment, very little data was collected. Student was on task most of the time, some data was collected, work space was cleaned and equipment was returned Enough data was collected to draw conclusions, student remained on task, work space was cleaned and equipment was returned