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Physics notebook Cambridge IGCSE 0625

Measuring and the pendulum · 2 parts · syllabus 1.1

How can you time one swing of a pendulum accurately?

Read a rule and a measuring cylinder without parallax or zero errors, then time a pendulum with your own finger on the stop-clock: one swing, then twenty, then other lengths, and plot period against length.

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A playground swing caught mid-swing, with faint earlier positions showing its arc. (enlarge)

Follow the idea

  1. Read the scale

    Reading rulers and measuring cylinders, and measuring small distances by multiples

    Not started

  2. Time the swing

    Timing with clocks and timers, and the period of a pendulum from many swings

    Not started
A pendulum on a tall clamp stand with a half-metre rule beside the string, a marker under the bob and a digital stop-clock.

The experiment · Your own finger on the stop-clock · one swing, then twenty

Run it yourself, or project it for the class

Use the apparatus step by step and look closely at what happens. The whole experiment fits one screen, so it works on a projector too.

Open the experiment