Variable effective ‘g’ pendulum

Aim: (i) To determine the acceleration due to gravity (g) by means of a compound pendulum
and the radius of gyration about an axis through the center of gravity for the
compound pendulum.
(ii) To investigate the dependence of the value of ‘g’ on the plane of oscillations of the
pendulum.
Apparatus: A 1 m long stainless steel rod as a compound pendulum with provision to tilt the
plane of oscillations and a timer.

Theory:

A simple pendulum consists of a small body called a “bob” (usually a sphere) attached to the end
of a string of negligible mass and of length large compared with the respective quantities of the
bob. Under these conditions the mass of the bob may be regarded as concentrated at its center of
gravity, and the length of thependulum is the distance of this point from the axis of suspension.
When the dimensions of the suspended body are not negligible in comparison with the distance
of the center of gravity from the axis of suspension, the pendulum is a compound, or physical
pendulum. A rigid body mounted upon a horizontal axis so as to vibrate under the force of
gravity is a compound pendulum.

In Fig.1 a body of irregular shape is pivoted about a horizontal frictionless axis through P and is
displaced from its equilibrium position by an angle 𝜃. In the equilibrium position the center of
gravity G of the body is vertically below P. The distance GP is 𝑙and the mass of the body is 𝑚.
The restoring torque for an angular displacement 𝜃is

 = −𝑚𝑔𝑙 sin 𝜃 (1)

For small amplitudes (𝜃 ≈ 0),

𝑑2
𝐼 = −𝑚𝑔𝑙 θ (2)
𝑑𝑡 2

where 𝐼is the moment of inertia of the body through the axis P.
Eq. (2) represents a simple harmonic motion and hence the period
of oscillations is given by

𝐼
𝑇 = 2√ (3)
𝑚𝑔𝑙

Now 𝐼 = 𝐼𝐺 + 𝑚𝑙 2 , where 𝐼𝐺 is the moment of inertia of thebody

about an axis parallel to the axis through P and passingthrough the center of gravity G.

𝐼𝐺 = 𝑚𝐾 2 (4)

where K is the radius of gyration about the axis passing through G.

1
Thus,
𝐾2
𝑚𝐾2 +𝑚𝑙 2 +𝑙
𝑇 = 2√ = 2√ 𝑙
(5)
𝑚𝑔𝑙 𝑔

The period of a simple pendulum of length 𝐿, is given by

L
𝑇 = 2√ (6)
𝑔

where

𝐾2
L= 𝑙+ (7)
𝑙

This is the length of an “equivalent simple pendulum”. If the mass of the body were concentrated
𝐾2
at a point O (See Fig.1) such thatOP = 𝑙 + , this would correspond to a simple pendulum
𝑙
with periodT. The point O is called the ‘Centre of Oscillation’. Now, from (5) and (6),

𝑙2 − 𝑙𝐿 + 𝐾 2 = 0 (8)

Equation (8) has two roots l1 and l2 such that;

𝑙1 + 𝑙2 = 𝐿 (9)

and

𝑙1 𝑙2 = 𝐾 2 (10)

Thus, both 𝑙1and𝑙2 are positive. This means that on one side of the CG, there are two positions of
suspension for which the periods are the same and there will be another pair of positions on the
other side of the CG for which the periods are same as above. Thus there are four positions of
suspension, two on either side of the CG, about which the time periods of the pendulum would
be the same. The distance between two such positions of the centers of suspension
asymmetrically located on either side of CG, is the length L of the simple equivalent pendulum.
Thus, if the body was supported on a parallel axis through the point O (see Fig. 1), it would
oscillate with the same time period T as when supported at P.

From Eqs.(6) and (10), the value of g and K are given by;

𝐿
𝑔 = 4𝜋 2 (11)
𝑇2
2
𝐾 = √𝑙1 𝑙2 (12)

By determining 𝐿, 𝑙1 and 𝑙2 graphically for a particular value of 𝑇, the acceleration due to gravity
𝑔 at that place and the radius of gyration 𝐾 of the compound pendulum can be determined.





mg mgcos 

Fig. 2: The physical pendulum set up for variable 'g' configuration and the corresponding time
period vs distance plot of the clamped end from CG of the rod

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If th plane of oscillations is at an angle Φwithrespect to the vertical plane, the components of the
accelerationof gravity 𝑔(Φ) which are effective in its oscillation planeare reduced to 𝑔(Φ) =
𝑔 cos Φand eqn. (3) becomes

𝐼
𝑇(Φ) = 2√ (13)
𝑚𝑔𝑙 cos Φ

In accordancewith this formula, the increase in the oscillation period, whichis proportional to the
square root of 1/ cos Φ, can be confirmed experimentally.

Procedure:

In the present case, the pendulum is a rod of 10 mm diameter and 1 m length.

(i) Clamp the rod into the support stand using a clamping set up and suspend the rod in a vertical
plane.
(ii) Allow the rod to oscillate in the vertical plane (Φ = 0) with a small amplitude (𝜃 < 10𝑜 ).
(iii)Measure the time taken for 10 oscillations using a precision stopwatch. Repeat this three
times and find the mean time 𝑡 for 10 oscillations and then determine the time period 𝑇. Give
estimates for the error Δ𝑇.
(iv) Measure the distance 𝑑 of the ends of the rod from the axis of suspension, using a meter
scale.
(v) Repeat (i) to (iv) for different lengths (in steps of 2 cm) till the CG of the bar is approached
where the time period becomes very large.
(vi) Draw a graph with the distance𝑙 = 𝑑 − 𝐷/2, where 𝐷 is the total length of the rod, as
x-axis and the time period 𝑇 as y-axis. The graph will be as shown in Fig. 1. (note: 𝑙 is the
distance from the pivot point to the centre of mass of the rod. The center of mass of the rod is
located at D/2 for a straight cylindrical rod.)
(vii) Draw a line ABC parallel to the x-axis. The length 𝐿 of the equivalent simple pendulum
is 𝐿 = 𝐴𝐶 + 𝐵𝐶 and 𝐾 = √𝐴𝐶×𝐵𝐶 . Find also the time period 𝑇 corresponding to the
line ABC. Repeat the above for several lines parallel to the x-axis. For each line, obtain the
values of 𝐿, 𝑇 and 𝐾 and draw a graph with 𝑇 2 as x-axis and 𝐿 as y-axis. The graph would be
a straight line whose slope will be 𝑔/4𝜋 2 from which, 𝑔 must be calculated. Estimate the
error Δ𝑔.

For studying the dependence of 𝑔 on Φ, repeat (i) to (iii) for a length where T is minimum,for
values of Φ from 75𝑜 to 15𝑜 . Plot 4𝜋 2 (𝐾 2 + 𝑙 2 )/𝑙 cos Φ vs 𝑇 2 for various Φ. Explain what you
get and what you expect. (Use 𝐾 obtained from previous part).

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Table 1: Measurements for  = 0. (The table shows four measurements just for guide. You will have
more measurements to do.)

Serial no of Distance d of Time for 10 Mean time t for Time period

holes from one the hole from oscillations 10 oscillations T = t/10 (sec)
end one end (cm) (sec) (sec)
One 1
side
of 2
C.G
3
4
5

Table 2: Calculation of 'g' and 'K' from the plot time period vs distance plot of the clamped end from
one end of the rod.

No. of obs. L T 𝐿 K
g=4𝜋2𝑇 2
(cm) (sec) (cm)
(cm/sec2)

Mean‘g’ (cm/sec2) Mean ‘K’(cm)

Give K K and from a graph of L vs T2 find g g.