The Simple Pendulum Department of Physics （单摆物理系）.pdf

The Simple Pendulum by Dr. James E. Parks Department of Physics and Astronomy 401 Nielsen Physics Building The University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1200 Copyright  June, 2000 by James Edgar Parks* *All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval Objectives The purposes of this experiment are: (1) to study the motion of a simple pendulum, (2) to study simple harmonic motion, (3) to learn the definitions of period, frequency, and amplitude, (4) to learn the relationships between the period, frequency, amplitude and length of a simple pendulum and (5) to determine the acceleration due to gravity using the theory, results, and analysis of this experiment. Theory A simple pendulum may be described ideally as a point mass suspended by a massless string from some point about which it is allowed to swing back and forth in a place. A simple pendulum can be approximated by a small metal sphere which has a small radius and a large mass when compared relatively to the length and mass of the light string from which it is suspended. If a pendulum is set in motion so that is swings back and forth, its motion will be periodic. The time that it takes to make one complete oscillation is defined as the period T. Another useful quantity used to describe periodic motion is the frequency of oscillation. The frequency f of the oscillations is the number of oscillations that occur per unit time and is the inverse of the pe