The Galileo Experiment

    The Galileo Experiment is a small metal ball, about the size of a pinball, rolling down a 183 cm track.  We time this with pendulum swings.  To start a meter stick that is stopping the ball is hit with another stick.  The stop is the ball hitting another object and making a noise.  The timer listens for the sounds to use with the timing.  An exact number of swings is needed to get an accurate time.  The length of the pendulum is found by measuring from the center of the hanging object to the point where it is held at.

    To find the time of the roll, put the length of the pendulum into the formula for the time of one cycle.  A cycle is the pendulum going from the release point to the other side and back.  The formula for time is T= .2 L^.5.  In the previous formula L is the length of the pendulum.  Now, take the number of cycles and multiply this by time. 

    This can also prove that the average velocity is half of the final velocity.  The average velocity is found by adding the initial and final velocities and dividing the sum by two.  The initial velocity is zero cm/s.  So, the average velocity is (0 + final velocity)/2.  This means that the final velocity is two times the average velocity.