Get Free Access for 10 Days!
Activity

Swinging Pendulum

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet
This Swinging Pendulum activity also includes:

Get into the swing of things. Pupils use a pendulum to demonstrate the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy and back. After measuring the speed of a pendulum and compare it to the calculated theoretical speed, they determine the percent error for the measured speed and justify the differences.

51 Views 44 Downloads
CCSS: Designed NGSS: Designed
Concepts
energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, pendulums, mass
Show More Show Less
Additional Tags
science
Show More Show Less
Instructional Ideas
  • Use the equations to determine the potential and kinetic energy of other objects
  • Calculate the period for various string lengths
Classroom Considerations
  • Requires a way to connect the pendulums to the ceiling
Pros
  • The activity contains assessment questions to ask the pupils before, during, and after the activity
  • The answer key provides possible answers
Cons
  • The exponents in the equations in the activity do not display correctly
NGSS
HS-PS3-1