1. What is your personal experience with swinging on anything like a trapeze?
My personal experience is swinging on a swingset in the park. Playing with yo-yo's and doing the cat's cradle trick.
2. What applications to
“real life” do swinging objects have?
A real life application could be a crane with a wrecking ball that knocks down buildings.
3. What is your
prediction about what will happen if two people are on one trapeze and only one is on the other and
they are both let go at the same time?
Explain.
I think that they will swing at the same rate.
4. What understanding or
ideas do you have about the science of
back-and-forth swinging objects?
Gravity causes objects to swing on a rope. The length of the rope is what determines the frequency of the swing.
Do the investigation:
# of washers
|
Trial 1
|
Trial 2
|
Trial 3
|
Trial 4
|
Mean
|
1
|
9
|
9.5
|
9
|
9.25
|
9.1875
|
2
|
8.75
|
9
|
9.5
|
9
|
9.0625
|
3
|
9
|
8.75
|
9.5
|
9
|
9.0625
|
4
|
9
|
9
|
9.25
|
9
|
9.0625
|
After one trial of 1 washer at 22.5º, I still think that the amount of washers on the pendulum is not going to matter. I think that the only thing that matters is the angle that it is released and the length of the pendulum. So, I believe that with 2, 3, & 4 washers there will still be about 9.1875 swings in 10 seconds at the angle of 22.5º.
Explore on your own:
1. What questions do you have? Complete the list of your personal questions from doing the pendulums activity. - How does the length of the pendulum affect the swing?
- How does the angle of the pendulum affect the swing?
- How does the force behind the pendulum affect the swing?
- How does the weight/length/angle affect the force that the pendulum has when it hits something?
a. Which of these questions can be investigate using the activity materials you’ve been using?
- The first two questions can be answered with materials given in class.
- The second two questions require additional materials. The force question requires something that will push the pendulum consistently at the same force. The last question would require something that the pendulum could hit that would mark how much damage was made.
- I think the last question would be too difficult to measure. I would talk to someone who knows a lot about physics or about wrecking balls.
- I am interested in investing the first three questions because it is interesting to think about what factors affect the swinging pendulum. I had never really thought about all the factors that go into a pendulum and how precise everything must be for it to stay consistent.
1. Choose a question: How does the length affect the frequency of pendulum swings?
- Why did you choose that question? We choose this question because we wondered whether the was a factor in the frequency of the pendulum.
- Why is it important or interesting? It's important to know so that I know what exactly affects the frequency of a pendulum.
2. Design an investigation:
One length 8.5 cm, another is 201/2 & another is 29 cm
LENGTH (cm)
|
Trial 1
|
Trial 2
|
Trial 3
|
Trial 4
|
8.5
|
16
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
20.5
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
29
|
9
|
9
|
8.5
|
8.5
|
8.5 average: 15.25
20.5 average: 10
29 average: 8.75
4. Evaluate:
We concluded that the length affects the frequency of the pendulum.
- When we looked to howstuffworks.com we found that this is the only factor! http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/clocks-watches/clock3.htm
- Angle does not affect the frequency of the pendulum.
- Weight does not affect the frequency of the pendulum.
This would be an odd swinging experience because the length of the two strings holding on to the pendulum is different and we know that the length of the pendulum is the only thing that affects the frequency of the pendulum. It would cause the child to swing crooked because the shorter side of the swing would swing faster than the longer side of the swing.
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