1.1 Mini-Lab: Pendulum Conundrum

Your Task:

Using kinematics, the law of conservation of energy, and/or the law of conservation of momentum,

1. Derive an equation for the speed (v) at the bottom of the path of a swinging pendulum of mass m with a string length of l when dropped from height h above the ground.
2. Calculate the theoretical speed of the pendulum set up at the front of the room using your derived equation.
3. Calculate the percent error between your theoretical value and the experimental value of the speed.

Neatness Counts!

Analysis:

• Why can’t the law of conservation of momentum be used to solve this problem?
• What caused the difference between the theoretical and experimental values of the final speed?
• How could we practically minimize the error in determining the experimental value of the final speed?

Fear Factor Challenge