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Qualitative presentation example: Does a paper ball pendulum’s mass affect its period?

Qualitative presentation example: Does a paper ball pendulum’s mass affect its period?. Arnando Shastrini Minnesota State University Moorhead. Introduction. In textbooks a pendulum is idealized as a point mass on a massless string L. In the absence of air resistance and for small angles

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Qualitative presentation example: Does a paper ball pendulum’s mass affect its period?

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  1. Qualitative presentation example: Does a paper ball pendulum’s mass affect its period? ArnandoShastrini Minnesota State University Moorhead

  2. Introduction • In textbooks a pendulum is idealized as a point mass on a massless string L. In the absence of air resistance and for small angles • For an ideal pendulum this is independent of the mass of the pendulum. Surprising! • Would a pendulum made of scotch tape and a wadded sheet of 8.5X11 inch paper follow this law?

  3. Experiment • A sheet of 8.5X11 inch typing paper was crumpled into a loose ball approximately 2 inches in diameter. A piece of scotch tape 2 cm wide was attached to one paper ball to form a pendulum. • Another identical pendulum was made and the two attached to a desk. Tape Paper balls

  4. Results (movie clip) The mass of one ball was changed by taping 5 pennies to it, and the period compared to the second ball before and after coins added. Both the same . Coins taped on left ball

  5. Discussion • The movie clips show the balls are still approximately in phase after 10 cycles when the masses are the same. • With coins taped to the left ball, the pendula appear out of phase after 6 oscillations. • These qualitative data suggest the period changes when pennies are taped to one ball. • However, this may be due to lowering the center of mass therefore increasing L.

  6. Conclusions • It appears that a pendulum made of a paper ball and scotch tape does not follow an ideal pendulum when a qualitative experiment is performed. • This may be due to weaknesses in the experimental design, such as an inability to change the mass without changing the center of mass of the ball, and hence the effective length of the pendulum.

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