pearl pendulum_data

Your general comment, if any:

The pendulum was not properly erected so I used my imagination to fix the problem. Also, the pearl that was supposed to be glued on was broken off, but I think I fixed it so that it will work.

Your description of the rhythm of the pendulum when tilted 'back'

The sounds get further apart. There was an obvious amount of time between strikes that got furtnher apart as the pearl began to stop.

Your description of the rhythm of the pendulum when tilted 'forward'

The sound gets closer together. It is obvious to hear the pearl striking the metal faster and faster until it stops.

Your description of the process used to keep the rhythm steady and the results you observed:

I put a peice of copy paper under the pearl end of the bracket and tested the rhythm about 10 times and came up with an average of 18 times that it hit the bracket.

Your description of what happened on the tilted surface, rotating the system 45 degrees at a time:

With the bracket parallel to the side it sounded like it was getting closer together.

With the bracket rotated 45 degrees counterclockwise it doesn't sound as fast as the first time.

With the pendulum now rotated 90 degrees from its original position it sounds like it is constant.

With the pendulum rotated 135 degrees from its original position it sounds like it is getting slower.

With the pendulum rotated 180 degrees from its original position it gets slower again. With the pendulum rotated to 225 degrees from its original location the sound speeds up in the beginning but slows down before it stops completely.

With the pendulum rotated 270 degrees from its original postion it sounds like it is constant. With the bracket turned 315 degrees from the original location the sound gets closer together again.

Your description of how you oriented the bracket on the tilted surface to obtain a steady rhythm:

You would turn the bracket to either 90 degrees or 270 degrees from the original location to obtain the most regular 'beat'.

Your report of 8 time intervals between release and the second 'hit':

.313, .297, .281, .297, .297,.281,.328, .318

.203, .234, .266, .25, .359, .234, .266, .275

.203, .234, .300, .300, .300, .313

.25, .25

.25, .375, .266, .344, .344, .300, .344,.375

.313, .266, .344, .281, .300, .300, .266, .328

.312, .281, .300, .234, .313, .313,.25, .288

.281,.313, .375, .300, .313, .300, .344, .360

.281, .281, .300, .390, .156, .25,.300, .266

Your report of 4 trials timing alternate hits starting with the second 'hit':

.634, .659, .828, .875

.659, .659, .822, .838

.625, .859, .688

.703, .810, .703, .8.00

The length of your pendulum in cm (you might have reported length in mm; the request in your instructions might have been ambiguous):

180 mm

Your time intervals for alternate 'hits', starting from release until the pendulum stops swinging:

.09, .01, .05

Your description of the pendulum's motion from release to the 2d hit:

With the pendulum pulled back tauntly it was released and hit the bracket and then bounced back.

Your description of the pendulum's motion from the 2d hit to 4th hit:

The pendulum did not bounce back as far as the first release

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:

Still yet it is not bouncing back as far because it is coming closer to a stop.

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:

the motion between the second and first hit bounces farther than the fourth and sixth hit because the latter is closer to stopping.

Your conjecture as to why a clear difference occurs in some intervals vs. others:

It is moving quicker because it has more momentum.

What evidence is there that subsequent intervals increase, decrease or remain the same:

The subsequent time intervals would decrease.

What evidence is there that the time between 'hits' is independent of the amplitude of the swing?

The experiment provides evidence against the hypothesis that the length of the pendulum's swing depends only on its length and is independent of how far it actually swings because no matter how long or short the string is the pendulum can only bounce as far as the string will allow thus making the length of the swing and how far it actually swings depedent of one another. 13:03:59 01-29-2006