Physics Through Teaching Laboratory XXI - Compound Pendulum

S R Pathare, R D Lahane, S S Sawant and C C Patil

HBCSE, TIFR Mumbai

This is an edited version of the experiment set for the experimental examination conducted at the orientation cum selection camp held at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (TIFR), Mumbai in May 2010. Generally, the compound pendulum studied in undergraduate laboratory is in the form of a uniform bar whose axis of oscillation is varied. In this experiment, a compound pendulum with a fixed axis of oscillation but with a movable mass is used to study the dependence of periodic time on the position of the movable mass and to determine the gravitational field strength.