Group Members:

THE SCIENTEFIC METHOD
THE SIMPLE PENDULUM

A physical system can in general be quite complex with a number of variables affecting a particular outcome of a measurement. The goal of a scientific study of the system is to discover the relationships between the variables, the interconnections if there are any. Many times, a scientist becomes interested in a particular system. Part of the scientific method is to form a hypothesis about what the important variables might be and how exactly they might influence the outcome. This can be based on detailed modelling of the system if that is possible, or even some simple guesses as to how the system will behave if certain variables are changed. Once that is done, one can test the system in order to verify or disprove the hypothesis.

One of the simplest systems one can study is the simple pendulum. It consists of a small mass hanging at the end of a string (the pendulum bob). The other end of the string is rigidly fixed. The mass of the string is much smaller than the mass of the bob and is assumed to be negligible. The pendulum is free to swing back and forth, one complete trip being the period of the pendulum. In principle, the pendulum can be released from any position.

THE PROCESS:

1. List possible properties of the pendulum which could be investigated.

2. Classify the variables.

a. Which property of the pendulum would you use to investigate the effects of the others? What is of interest here is the dependent variable.

b. Which then are the independent variables? These are those that you control and manipulate.