Simple Pendulum
Gravity is responsible for an object falling toward the earth. The farther the object falls, the faster it is moving when it hits the ground. For each second on object falls, it speeds increases by a constant amount, called the acceleration due gravity, denoted g. One way to calculate the value of g is to use a simple pendulum.
The time T for a pendulum to swing back and forth once is called its period and is given by
Where L equals the length of the pendulum. The table lists the period of the pendulums with different lengths.
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L(feet)
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0.5
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1.0
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1.5
|
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T(seconds)
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0.78
|
1.11
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1.36
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|
|
|
|
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Solve the formula for g.
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Use the table to determine the value of g. (Note the units for g are feet per second.)
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Interpret your results