Pendulum

1. What is your personal experience with swinging on anything like a trapeze?

When I was a child I had a playset in my backyard. On my playset we had a trapeze type thing next to the swings. The trapeze had yellow handles that you could hold onto and swing back and forth. Another favorite activity I had when I was younger was playing on the swings.

2. What applications to "real life" do swinging object have?

Swinging objects are found in everyday life. Children playing on a playset, grandfather clocks, gymnasts on the bars, or acrobats at a circus. Also movies such as spiderman have people swinging from buildings, creating a pendulum.

3. What is your prediction about what will happen if two people are on one trapeze and only one is on the other and they are both letting go at the same time?

I predict that it will take less than 5.2 seconds with two people on the trapeze to swing back and forth. I think this because the momentum is greater causing it to go faster. Also the pendulum doesn't go as far as it did the first swing.

4. What understanding or ideas do you have about the science of back-and-forth swinging objects?

My understandings could be based off misconceptions. I know when you drop a pendulum it is going to swing back and forth. I do not know much about swinging objects.

*Washer prediction:

1 washer: trial one: 10 trial two: 9 trial three: 9 trial four: 9

2 washers:11 swings

3 washers:12 swings

4 washers:13 swings

I think that as you add more washers the number of swings will increase because the momentum will cause it to speed up. However, this is most likely incorrect because my predictions are often times misconceptions. It could possibly stay the same but I do not know why that would be.

Homework:

**Questions I have: Why is it that no matter the amount of washers on your pendulum it has the same number of swings? What if you change the angle of where the pendulum is dropped, will that change the number of swings? What if we increased the amount of time?

1. What if you change the andle of where the pendulum is dropped, will that change the number of swings? You can test this with the materials given because you can fold the paper in different angles.

2. None of my questions require more materials. Changing the angle you use the same paper. The amount of time does not require more material.

3. All my questions could be answered through more investigation. Through changing variables you can answer the following questions.

4. Questions are important because it gets you thinking about different outcomes. It clears up misconceptions that people have.