AQA Year 13 Physics Readiness Question

Year 13 Physics readiness: pendulum and uncertainty

Results tell you what happened in an exam. This original AQA A-level Physics challenge checks whether you can combine first-year measurement skills with a second-year oscillations equation, then gives instant ExamBOT marking and feedback.

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Question

8 marks

Show your working. Give calculated answers to an appropriate number of significant figures and include units where required.

1(a)

A pupil checks whether a simple pendulum can be used to measure the gravitational field strength

g

. The pendulum length is

l = 0.500 m

. The pupil measures a time of

14.22 s

for 10 complete oscillations. Calculate the period

T

of the pendulum.

[1 mark]

1(b)

For small oscillations, the period of a simple pendulum is given by

T = 2 π l / g

. Use

l = 0.500 m

and

T = 1.422 s

to calculate

g

[2 marks]

1(c)

The absolute uncertainty in

l

0.002 m

. The estimated absolute uncertainty in the measured time of

14.22 s

0.10 s

. Calculate the percentage uncertainty in the calculated value of

g

. Use

g = 4 π^{2} l / T^{2}

and assume the percentage uncertainty in

T

is the same as the percentage uncertainty in the measured time for 10 oscillations.

[3 marks]

1(d)

Explain why timing 10 complete oscillations and dividing by 10 gives a smaller percentage timing uncertainty than timing only one oscillation with the same stopwatch and reaction-time method.

[2 marks]

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