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DifferenceBetweenSimplePendulumandCompoundPendulum

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DifferenceBetweenSimplePendulumand
CompoundPendulum
PostedonMarch19,2012byadmin

SimplePendulumvsCompound
Pendulum

Pendulumsareatypeofobjectswhichdisplaysperiodic
oscillatory motions. The simple pendulum is the basic
formofthependulum,whichwearemorefamiliarwith,
whereasthecompoundpendulumisanextendedform
ofthesimplependulum.Bothofthesedevicesarevery
important in the understanding of fields such as
classical mechanics, waves and vibrations and other
relatedfieldsinphysics.Inthisarticle,wearegoingto
discuss what simple pendulum and compound pendulum are, their operation, the mathematical
formulaethatdescribethemotionofsimplependulumandcompoundpendulum,theapplicationsof
these two, the similarities between simple pendulum and compound pendulum, and finally the
differencebetweensimplependulumandcompoundpendulum.
SimplePendulum
Thesimplependulumconsistsofapivot,astringandamass.Foreaseofcalculations,thestringis
assumedtobenonelasticandhavezeromass,andtheairviscosityonthemassisnegligible.The
stringispivoted,andthemassishungbythestringsothatitcanoscillatefreely.Theonlyforcesthat
act on the mass are the gravitational force and the tension of the string. The motion of a simple
pendulumforverysmallanglesissaidtobeintheformofsimpleharmonicoscillations.Thesimple
harmonicmotionisdefinedasamotiontakingtheformofa=(^2)xwhereaistheacceleration
andxisthedisplacementfromtheequilibriumpoint.Thetermisaconstant.Asimpleharmonic
motion requires a restoring force. In this case, the restoring force is the conservative force field of
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gravitation.Thetotalmechanicalenergyofthesystemisconserved.Theperiodofoscillationisgiven
bywherelisthelengthofthestringandgisthegravitationalacceleration.Ifviscosityoranyother
dampingforceispresent,thesystemisidentifiedasadampedoscillation.
CompoundPendulum
The compound pendulum, which is also known as the physical pendulum, is an extension of the
simple pendulum. The physical pendulum is any rigid body that is pivoted so that it can oscillate
freely. The compound pendulum has a point called the center of oscillation. This is placed at a
distanceLfromthepivotwhereLisgivenbyL=I/mRhere,misthemassofthependulum,Iisthe
moment of inertia over the pivot, and R is the distance to the center of mass from the pivot. The
periodofoscillationforthephysicalpendulumisgivenbyT=Lisknownasthelengthofgyration.

WhatisthedifferencebetweenSimpleandCompoundPendulums?

Theperiodand,therefore,thefrequencyofthesimplependulumdepends
onlyonthelengthofthestringandthegravitationalacceleration.Theperiod
andthefrequencyofthecompoundpendulumdependonthelengthof
gyration,themomentofinertia,andthemassofthependulum,aswellas
thegravitationalacceleration.

Thephysicalpendulumisthereallifescenarioofthesimplependulum.

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FiledUnder:Physics
TaggedWith:CompoundPendulum,pendulum,physicalpendulum,SimplePendulum

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