The lab exercise under consideration was untitled “Acceleration Due to Gravity,” and it is possible to state that its real purpose was to provide students with the opportunity to acquire practical skills of calculating one of the basic physical constants. In the process of performing the lab exercise, observed evidence from two sources was collected. Firstly, a falling paper strip was used, and secondly, a pendulum was employed for the same purpose of calculating acceleration due to gravity. Two different sources were used to enable students to calculate acceleration due to gravity in a classical manner (by observing a falling object) and to perform the same calculation by watching the pendulum swing, which also represents the process of falling.
It is also highly important to emphasize why the same quantity derived from two different activities. As acceleration due to gravity is the physical constant, it does not matter what shape and size are the falling objects (any other thing could be used instead of the paper strip), and thus both methods give the same result, despite that the input data differs. If materials of different weights, size, or shape had been used in the performed lab exercise, the results would still be the same because the physical force of gravity is constant for all falling objects.
Another significant aspect of this lab exercise is that it was not merely an academic exercise because the concept of acceleration due to gravity is highly applicable in practice. For example, the power of gravity allows artificial satellites to orbit around Earth without falling as their mass is calculated regarding acceleration due to gravity. Considering pendulums, their practical value is apparent since they are used as parts of clocks, metronomes, and seismometers.