Your 'pearl pendulum' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
** Your general comment, if any: **
** Your description of the rhythm of the pendulum when tilted 'back' **
The sounds get closer together. The rhythm is getting faster.
** Your description of the rhythm of the pendulum when tilted 'forward' **
The sounds become further apart and thus the rhythm gets slower.
** Your description of the process used to keep the rhythm steady and the results you observed: **
We used a slighly tilted surface to keep the pearl only slightly touching the bracket and the rhythm remained constant.
** Your description of what happened on the tilted surface (textbook and domino), rotating the system 45 degrees at a time: **
With the pendulum in the center of the elevated book the sounds became closer.
With a 45 degree turn the pearl bounced and the sounds were increasing in frequency.
After another 45 degree turn the rhythm was becoming constant.
After another 45 degree turn the rhythm was slowed.
At a 180 degree turn the pendulum rhythm was slowed significantly.
As we continued to turn the pendulum the rhythm slowing increased in frequency.
** Your description of how you oriented the bracket on the tilted surface to obtain a steady rhythm: **
At about 90 degrees the pearl pendulum had it most contstant frequency.
** Your report of 8 time intervals between release and the second 'hit': **
0.391
0.281
0.281
0.291
0.281
0.234
0.234
0.219
This is the amount of time it takes the pearl to hit the bracket twice upon release. These numbers can be used to give us an average of the cycle of the pearl pendulum.
** Your report of 4 trials timing alternate hits starting with the second 'hit': **
0.296, 0.281. 0.281, 0.281
0.281, 0.265, 0.312. 0.312
0.297, 0.281, 0.267, 0.297
0.281, 0.297, 0.312, 0.281
These are random timings of the pearl's cycle.
** The length of your pendulum in cm (you might have reported length in mm; the request in your instructions might have been ambiguous): **
3 1/4 inches
** Your time intervals for alternate 'hits', starting from release until the pendulum stops swinging: **
0.11
0.016
0.016
** Your description of the pendulum's motion from release to the 2d hit: **
The pendulum goes from eztreme to hitting the bracket and bouncing back to nearly the same beginning point.
At the beginning point it hasn't 'hit' for the second time.
** Your description of the pendulum's motion from the 2d hit to 4th hit: **
The motion is from hit to extreme to hit.
That takes you from the 2d to the 3d 'hit', not the 2d to the 4th.
** Your description of the difference in the pendulum's motion from release to the 2d 'hit', compared to the motion from the 2d 'hit' to the 4th hit: **
No real change except the extreme is lessened.
** Your description of the difference in the pendulum's motion from the 2d to the 4th 'hit' compared to the motion from the 4th to 6th hit: **
There is a change in how far the pearl will bounce back.
** Your conjecture as to why a clear difference occurs in some intervals vs. others: **
motion is in one direction, there is no bouncing back.
** What evidence is there that subsequent intervals increase, decrease or remain the same: **
should decrease
** What evidence is there that the time between 'hits' is independent of the amplitude of the swing? **
The length of the pendulum changes the amount of tension that the mass can place on it.
** **
20 minutes.
** **
Your timings are reasonable, but the time from release to the 2 'hit' should not be the same as the time from the 2d to 4th 'hit'. The two should be in a 4-to-3 ratio.