Move both oscillators to the Moon and predict which one notices
Three steps, the way the exam actually works: work through the lab, write down your own measurements, then answer a 10-point free response. What you recorded goes to the grader with your writing, so a conclusion that does not follow from your own numbers will cost you the point — exactly as it would with a real reader.
Predict before you look
- Name the restoring force for a pendulum and for a mass on a spring. One of them depends on the local gravitational field and one does not.
- Lunar surface gravity is about 1.62 m/s². Compute √(9.8/1.62) before you begin — you will compare it with a measured ratio.
Nothing to submit here — these are to think through, so the prediction below is an informed one rather than a guess.
Commit to an answer now. It is not graded and being wrong costs nothing — the point is to have something specific to reconcile against once you have the data.
Answer every prediction to unlock the lab. A sentence is enough.
Run the investigation
Predictions first
The procedure and the simulation unlock once you have committed above. Observing before predicting is how a wrong intuition survives a lab intact.
Record what you measured
These are your numbers, not ours. The grader sees them, so your conclusions have to follow from what you actually recorded.
| Pendulum period on Earth, L = 1.00 m | s |
|---|---|
| Spring period on Earth, k = 20 N/m, 1.0 kg | s |
| Pendulum period on the Moon, L = 1.00 m | s |
| Spring period on the Moon, same settings | s |
| Pendulum period ratio, Moon divided by Earth(Divide your two pendulum readings.) | |
| Pendulum period on the Moon, L = 2.00 m | s |
| Pendulum period on Earth, L = 2.00 m | s |
Answer the free response
Using your readings: (a) State what happened to each period when you moved to the Moon, and explain the difference in terms of which force provides the restoration in each system. (b) Compare your measured period ratio with √(g_Earth/g_Moon) and explain why the relationship involves a square root. (c) A pendulum clock and a balance-wheel watch are both taken to the Moon. Predict what each does and justify your answer from your data. (d) Explain what your Moon readings at 1.00 m and 2.00 m show about whether the length dependence itself is affected by gravity.
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