Chapter 11, Problem 53GP

An astronaut uses a simple pendulum to measure the acceleration of gravity at the surface of a newly discovered planet. The length of the pendulum arm L can be varied between 0.1 m and 0.8 m. The astronaut measures the period of the pendulum motion at a variety of different arm lengths L. Her data are listed here:

L(m)	Period (s)
0.10	0.48
0.22	0.71
0.45	1.02
0.58	1.16
0.75	1.32

Referring to Equation 11.32 as a guide, make a linearized plot of the data by graphing the square of the period as a function of the pendulum arm length. Use a linear “best fit” to the data to determine the acceleration of gravity near the surface of the planet.