Principle

By means of a reversible pendulum, terrestrial gravitational acceleration g may be determined from the period of oscillation of a physical pendulum, knowing neither the mass nor the moment of inertia of the latter.

Benefits

• Quick and easy set-up
• Determine the gravitational constant g immediately without knowledge of mass or moment of inertia
• Automatically measure the oscillation period using the light barrier

Tasks

1. Measurement of the period for different axes of rotation.
2. Determination of terrestrial gravitational acceleration g.

Learning objectives

• Physical pendulum
• Moment of inertia
• Steiner's law
• Reduced length of pendulum
• Reversible pendulum
• Terrestrial gravitational acceleration