Get an answer to your question “Why does mass not affect the period of a pendulum? As the amount of energy is constant in the system the potential energy would equal kinetic energy (mh=.5mv^2). Favourite answer. In a clock's pendulum the bob is often a hanging chunk of lead. There are some other factors that affect the period of simple pendulum. Regardless of the weight of the pendulum bob, otherwise known as the weight at the end of the string, the deciding factor of the period of the swing is length, as it is the only variable in the stated equation. around the world. In practice it does due to air resistance. 1 Answer. This preview shows page 3 - 5 out of 5 pages. Copyright © 2021. The really interesting physics behind this formula for the period of a pendulum is that the mass doesn't matter! The rest of the pendulum is as light as possible so that the wire the bob hangs from can be ignored. Why does the angle you release the pendulum, not affect the period of the pendulum? At higher angles however, the period [math]T[/math] increases with increasing [math]\theta[/math]. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. Because the mass of any object does not affect its gravitational acceleration, and gravitational acceleration is what determines the period of a pendulum. The only things that affect the period of a simple pendulum are its length and the acceleration due to gravity. by Ron Kurtus (revised 18 December 2016) A pendulum consists of a weight suspended on a rod, string or wire. Because acceleration remains the same, so does the time over which the acceleration occurs. I know from the formula T = 2pi square root (l/g) it doesn't but can somebody give me an qualitative explanation that involves not only the formula but words as well. assumes that all the mass is concentrated a distance #l# from the pivot. As the force increases so does the acceleration and along with gravity are the factors that affect the pendulum swing. (s) affect the period, you are also going to determine how they affect the period. Therefore, the mass does not affect the period of the pendulum. One factor that does not affect swing rate is the weight of the bob. This is the approximation I indicated in the "Answer" above. For this activity the mass should stay the same but the length will change each time. ...” in Physics if there is no answer or all answers are wrong, use a search bar and try …   Privacy The solution may be closer than you know. Notice in the formula that the mass of a simple pendulum's bob does not affect the pendulum's period; it will however affect the tension in the pendulum's string. The period for a simple pendulum does not depend on the mass or the initial anglular displacement, but depends only on the length L of the string and the value of the gravitational field strength g, according to The mpeg movie at left (39.5 kB) shows two pendula, with different lengths. The reason that mass is irrelevant is because although it requires more energy to move the larger mass, the restoring force of the pendulum is apparent on the tangential axis which uses mgsinθ. This is because of the conservation of energy. A pendulum is 90 cm long. Write a hypothesis: As the length of the pendulum _____ the number of swings_____. Increasing the mass of the bob doesn't affect either the period or the frequency at all. Click reset, Next, use the timer (by clicking other tools) and observe the, number of swings the pendulum makes each time you change, Each time you adjust the length, count the number of full swings, Make sure that the pendulum is released at the same position, Write a conclusion on how the length of the pendulum affects the, ________________________________________________________________________. Bob not affect a pendulum affect its gravitational acceleration is what is the time over which the does! 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