The candidates were required to
(i)set up an equipment as in the diagram above:
(ii)measure five value of time t and record to at lease 1 decimal place in seconds and in trend. . .

Trend: t decreases as h, increases;

(iii)determine five values of T correctly and record to at least 2 decimal places;
(iv)evaluate five values of T2 correctly and record to at least 3 significant figures;
(v)present data on composite and complete table showing h. t. T and T2;
(vi)correctly distinguish the graph axes, select reasonable scales, plot the five points and draw a line that best fits the points;
(Vii)draw a large right angled triangle on the graph line, read Δh and ΔT2 and
evaluate slope{s) = Δh/ ΔT2

(viii)show and read the intercept on the vertical axis;
(ix)evaluate k = 4/s п2 to obtain a value of k = g as stated by the teacher;
(x)state any two of the following precautions in the correct form of speech:
I ensured firm support of pendulum;
I avoided conical oscillations; .
I avoided parallax error in reading the metre rule;
I corrected for zero error of the metre rule/stop clock/stop watch
I ensure small angular displacements of bob.
(b)(i)frequency of an oscillating body is defined as the number of complete to and fro movement made per second it is measured in Hertz .
(ii) Any two correct systems that can be made to perform simple harmonic motion. e.g
-a loaded spiral spring;
-a loaded test tube floating in water;
-a cantilever;
-a tuning fork;
-a bifilar pendulum.

This question on simple harmonic motion was the most popular in this alternative. The performance of the candidates was fairly satisfactory.

Most of the candidates were able to measure the time for the 20 complete oscillations and determine the period T of the oscillations.

The candidates were able to tabulate their readings and to the required number of decimal places.

Some candidates could not correctly plot the graph due to the small values of T2, they were however, able to determine the slope and intercept of their graphs. They were also able to evaluate k = 4п2/slope but could not get k to be equal to the teachers value of g

hence lost the accuracy marks. The precautions were well stated.

In part (b) the candidates were able to explain frequency of an oscillating system and state systems that can be made to perform simple harmonic motion.