STEM Smart Physics

Task 3: Thread pendulum 

Topic

The pupils are to build a thread pendulum and examine its characteristics. The primary objective is to discover the dependence between frequency and pendulum length and the independence between frequency and pendulum mass. A hypothesis is set up first and then either rejected or confirmed.

The degree of difficulty increases per task. In task 2, the correlation between pendulum length (resp. mass) and period is simply examined. In task 3, the equation is to be confirmed and the value for gravity acceleration compared with the published value. 

 
  

 

Learning objectives 

Die Schülerinnen und Schüler: 

  • The pupils can name the physical characteristics of a thread pendulum (period, pendulum length, mass of the pendulum body) 
  • The pupils examine the correlation between frequency and mass. 
  • The pupils examine the correlation between frequency and pendulum length. 
  • The pupils record the oscillation as an experiment. 
  • The pupils calculate and compare the results with the given equations.

Time required 

About 15min are needed to build the pendulum. 

The subsequent processing of the tasks can be done in 30min to 75min. Task 2 can be solved in 20min. Here, the time taken is determined mainly by the number of different lengths and masses. If the results are to be quantified and the equation confirmed, a further 20min should be taken into account. 

 

Didactic accompanying material

sc10-cd-1