Reference no: EM133204645
Assignment: Science Experiment and Scientific Report- Pendulum Experiment
During first two weeks of the semester students will perform experiments to better understand what controls how a pendulum swings.
Student will test 3 hypotheses. The hypotheses must test the effect of changing the mass of the bob of the pendulum, the length of the pendulumand the angle of the pendulum's release on the period of the pendulum. It is student's responsibility to find the definition of the each term.
Students my work in groups of three or individually to set-up the hypotheses, design and conduct the related experiments and record data. Each student will then write an individual science report following the format below. Additional information on how to write a scientific report is available on page 28 of the course book.
1. Design the Experiment: BEFORE starting the experiment make sure to
a. Understand which variable is "the cause" and which variable is "the effect". Try to put them in a sentence like "if I will change ... this will effect ...".
b. Identify constant (controlled) variables and think about how to keep them from interfering with the experiment.
c. Decide how many samples you will have and how many trials you will test of each sample. Remember the greater the number of samples the more conclusive the experiment will be; three trials will be enough to take care of the human error in the experiment.
d. Design the pendulum keeping in mind safety and choose the measuring tools you will be using. Nonstandard measurements will be just fine. Make sure there is a significant difference between the samples.
e. Design the data table where you will record the results. Data table should clarify variables, samples and trials.
2. Conducting the Experiment: Students may conduct the experiment is groups of 3 but the report must be done individually. Students should test all three hypotheses at once and turn in one reportof three parts.
3. Problem Statement: A short open ended question. Make sure it is an affirmative statement that describes well what we you trying to learn in the experiment overall.
4. Hypotheses:
a. a hypothesis for the weight of the bob
b. a hypothesis for the length of the pendulum
c. a hypothesis for the angle of the pendulum's release
5. Materials: A bullet list of all the materials you used in the experiment
6. Procedures: a bulleted list with all the steps of the experiment such that someone not familiar with the experience can repeat it and get the same results. Start with the steps of your first experiment. Then add bullets to state what you are changing for the two other experiments. Do not use "gather the materials" as the first step. Make very clear and simple instructions but do not micromanage it. Add a schematic with the experimental set-up (no problem if drawn by hand, or take a photo with your phone and attach/insert it to/into the report).
7. Results: 3 Tables and 3 graphs with the results of the experiments. Remember the requirements for graphs (manipulated -horizontal, responding - vertical) and make sure you have units and clear information. No discussion of results in this section!
Table 1. Table caption explaining briefly the table
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Trial 1
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Trial 2
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Trial 3
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Average (with +/-)
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8. Discussion: Keep in mind that scientific writing should be concise and to the point.
The discussion is a very important part of the report and should be extensive, at least one page. For each part of the experiment start by reviewing the results and comment if the results are consistent and if anything went wrong. Relate the results to the physical science principles. Argue based on the results if the hypotheses should be accepted or rejected. Discuss if there were any problems in the experiment and how the experiment could be improved, particularly if you cannot conclude on one of the hypotheses. You can add suggestions to make other similar interesting experiments. Scientific knowledge typically progresses from one experience raising questions and leading to another experiment.
As for most scientific experiments it is very important to discuss how much uncertainty there is in the results in the discussion section. Include an estimation of the uncertainty (i.e. the +/-).
9. Conclusion: Summarize the main results of the experiment. What is in the conclusion should not be a surprise. Example: hypotheses x, y, z were accepted/supported, hypothesis w was rejected, the main points we learned were ...we could improve the experiment by ...