Dynamics and mechanical shocks

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Practical 2 DYNAMICS AND MECHANICAL SHOCKS

I. INTRODUCTION
The material available in this practical is an oscillating device that consists of a rod and a
mass which are bound to a disk. This disk enables to measure the angle built between the rod
and the vertical direction. The position of the mass along the rod can be varied thus varying
the distance of the mass to the axis of rotation. The measuring tools at hand are among the
simplest ones: a stopwatch to measure duration and a ruler to measure distances.
Using this experimental set-up we will illustrate the course on dynamics and on mechanical
shocks. Our main task is here to compare theory and experiment.
For each part of the practical, we are going to go through the same 3 stages:
1. Theoretical analysis of the situation leading to formulae that identify the influence of a
given parameter,
2. Experimental characterization of the phenomenon,
3. Confrontation of theory and experimental results and conclusion drawn from it.

II. STUDY OF THE PERIOD OF THE OSCILLATIONS

In this section of the practical the oscillations of the pendulum are studied for a given position
of the mass along the rod (Fig 1).

Figure 1 : Pendulum driven into oscillation

Various theoretical methods can be applied:
-

The set-up can be modeled as a simple pendulum made out of a point mass M set at
the end of a rod of negligible mass,

It can also be modeled as a rod of mass m with an additional point mass M.

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II.1.
Theory
1. What is the equation of motion of a simple pendulum (point mass, rod of negligible mass)?
In this approximation, what parameter does the period depend on (and respectively doesnt
depend on)?
2. If the mass of the rod is now taken into account, what physical quantity needs to be
introduced to describe the swinging pendulum? Establish in that case the equation of motion
of the pendulum.

II.2.
Practical work
Release the pendulum when the mass M is displaced at different angles and determine its
period.

What is the best experimental way to get a good accuracy for this measurement?

Give the uncertainty on the measurement of the period.

II.3.

Confronting theory and experiment

Plot the measurements and the theoretical predictions into one graph.

What is the limit of the small angle criteria?

III.

STUDY OF THE DAMPING OF THE OSCILLATIONS

Once the pendulum is released the friction causes the oscillations to decrease in amplitude
until the pendulum stops.

III.1.
Theory
What term was neglected up to now?

What is the equation of motion if the damping phenomenon is taken into account? What is
the type of the solutions?

How can the damping be characterised?

III.2.
Practical work
Perform measurements that characterise the damping, while using a reasonably low start
angle. Use the concept of damping factor.
Does the damping factor depend on the angle at which the pendulum is released?

III.3.
Comparison between theory and practice
Why does the damping coefficient depend on the start angle of the oscillation?

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What has to be changed in the set-up to have a pendulum that always oscillates with the same
period and never stops (Fig.2)?

Figure 2: Huygens clock (1757).

IV.

STUDY OF THE POSITION OF THE MASS ON THE ROD

IV.1.
Theory
Revise the theoretical analysis that yields the oscillating period by taking into account the
varying position of the mass along the rod.

IV.1.
Experiment
For a fixed start angle measure the period of the oscillations as a function of the position of
the mass along the rod.

IV.2.

Comparison between theory and experiment

After having changed the mass position along the rod, does the theory comply with the
experiment? Conclude upon it.

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V.

MECHANICAL SHOCKS: CHANGE A PENDULUM INTO A

STRIKER

The pendulum is used as a hammer to strike a ball and try to hit a target (Fig 3).

Ball support
Figure 3
V.1.
Theory
Write down the equations that predict the balls point of impact. Justify your hypotheses.

V.2.
Experiment
Establish a procedure that enables controlling the theory.

V.3.
Comparison between theory and experiment
How is the agreement between theory and experiment?
Identify the sources of error in the theory as well as in the experiment.