Tick-tock goes the clock...

Ever wondered how they alter the time in Elizabeth tower, so Big Ben chimes on time? Well this week in science, the year 6 classes have been investing how the weight and length of a pendulum affects the speed and quantity of oscillations that a pendulum makes.

After choosing their tests, the children set up their pendulums and recorded the length. After counting the number of oscillations (some counted over 500!) the children repeated the activity with a shorter length of string.

Unfortunately, the results in the class varied however we were able to identify the flaws in our experiment as: not counting in time with our oscillations; dropping the weight from different angles and the tables being nudged could have all contributed to differing results.

Ben Green (Palm class) stated "We attached our pendulum to the table to keep it steady." Whilst others in the class held theirs in their hands (potentially causing to pendulums stopping early or oscillating more frequently).

It was an exciting and interesting start to the Energy unit. To answer the question at the start, if Big Ben chimes before or after time, old English pennies are added to or removed from the pendulum in Elizabeth's tower. One penny alone changes the speed of the clock by one fith of a second in 24 hours!