The Swinging Ring Experiment

The goal of this experiment is to predict the time it takes a small metal ring to swing back and forth.

You will have a set of 2 medium- and large-sized rings, as well as basic lab equipment: a ruler, meterstick, stopwatch, bars and clamps. You will combine your measurements with those of other groups to create a larger dataset.

Can you use these large rings to make measurements from which you might figure out the behavior of a small ring? That's your job. At the end of the class period, I'll swing one of the small rings and we'll all measure its motion. The students whose estimate is closest will be recognized for their work.

As you work through this experiment, consider the following:

1. how well can you determine the size of a ring?
2. how well can you determine the period of a ring?
3. is there some way that a graph might help?

Each group must submit two pieces of paper, stapled together, which contain the following:

• names of all members
• a table of measurements -- both yours, and those of other groups
• a graph
• a prediction for the period of the small ring: diam = 3.8 cm

This experiment brings up some topics that we will address over and over again throughout this quarter:

• how to combine several measurements of the same quantity
• using the proper number of figures
• creating an informative graph

We might also learn something useful about logarithms ...

Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.