Experiment Description

Experiment

Experiment DL06    Simple Harmonic and Damped Oscillations

Objectives
  • Use a rotary motion sensor to study the motion of a simple pendulum
  • Study the phase relationship between s, v and a in simple harmonic motion
  • Study the damped motion of a pendulum bob
  • Study the variation of period with amplitude in a damped oscillation
Description
In this activity, you will use the Rotary Motion Sensor to record the motion of a simple pendulum. The pendulum string is wrapped round the pulley of the sensor so that as the pendulum swings, the pulley would rotate. A graph of angular position against time would be plotted by the computer.

In Experiment 1, you will compare the angular position-time graph with the angular velocity-time and angular acceleration-time graphs. In this way, the phase relationship between position, velocity and acceleration of a simple pendulum can be studied.

In Experiment 2, you will immerse the pendulum bob in water to introduce resistance to the motion. The pendulum bob undergoes damped harmonic motion. A graph showing that the amplitude of oscillation decreases exponentially with time would be plotted by the computer.
Apparatus
Science Workshop 500/700/750 Interface [1]
Rotary Motion Sensor [1]
pendulum bob [1]
string [1]
stand-and-clamp [1]
water tank (18 cm x 12 cm x 5 cm) [1]
Experiment