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 PO Box 924, Jackson, MI 49204 1 (800) 622-2866 |
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STUDENT-FRIENDLY KATER PRECISION PENDULUM
The axes of rotation are by means of a “knife edge” which is inserted through one or the other of two holes; whose placement in the pendulum were carefully chosen. Although period measurements may be made with a stopwatch, a photogate is preferred to: (i) eliminate large reaction time errors, and (ii) insure that data is collected in an amplitude regime that is essentially isochronous. A quick method operates with a single mass configuration of the pendulum. The period of swing about each axis is measured and g can be determined by using: 
Although the errors of this “quick” method are about 5 times larger than those of the more precise method; the total time for data collection and analysis is correspondingly reduced. The more precise method collects a different T1 and T2 for each of several positions of a small slider whose mass is approximately 2% of the mass of the pendulum. By performing a regression analysis on the graphs of T1 and T2 as a function of slider position, the position for which T1 = T2 = T can be determined and g calculated from:  Apparatus Includes: Precision cut and drilled brass rod, clamp with knife-edge, lab manual with all equations derived, and detailed instructions for performing the experiment.
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