Simple Pendulum--Basic equations and their uses

Dr N K Srinivasan Introduction The physics of simple pendulum is basic to understand motion of objects or mechanics. Galileo Galilee studied the pendulum with great skill and his work forms the basis for this subject. Legend has it that Galileo watched the swinging chandelier in the cathedral at Pisa. He measured the period of the pendulum and according to the stories, he used his pulse as watch for timing the swings. Later Newton's laws of motion could be applied to derive expressions for the pendulum---to find its period. Galileo found ,surprisingly, that the period---time taken for one swing [say ,from left extreme position to the right extreme position and back to its left position]---was independent of the mass of the bob of the pendulum . Whether the weight attached to the pendulum is a heavy chandelier or a small ball of metal ,the period of the pendulum was the same as long as its length was the same for the pendulums. This surprises every curious student of physics,because we normally tend to think that a heavier bob would move the pendulum faster! The period is dependent on the acceleration due to gravity called 'g'. "g " is close to 9.8 meter per second squared and this enters into the equation for the period as we will see shortly. "g' is not really a constant on earth; it is slightly more at

the poles ,about 9.78 m/s/s and at the equator close to 9.81. It varies with latitude; mainly due to the bulge of the

earth---the diameter of the earth is slightly greater at the equator ,compared to the diameter at the polar axis. This is due to the rotation of the earth and the centripetal force

exerted at the equator. This explanation was given by Isaac Newton. [The radius of the earth from centre to the poles is

50 kms less than the radius at the equator.Our earth is flattened "oblate spheroid" and not a perfect sphere.!] "g' also varies with altitude since the distance from the centre of the earth to the given altitude increases as we go up a mountain or in a baloon. The experiments with pendulums offered a simple means of measuring 'g' and a pendulum was called 'gravitymeter' by early scientists. In this article, an attempt is made to derive an approximate formula for the period of a pendulum without using methods of calculus or differential equations. So, this derivation is easily followed by high school students studying basic physics. The Energy balance Consider a pendulum with bob of mass 'm' and length of the string 'L' from the fulcrum to the centre of the bob. The angle made by the string with the vertical axis when the bob is in the central position is x. Now the pendulum ,during its oscillation , has potential energy when it is at the extreme left or extreme right; at that position, the kinetic energy is zero, because it has zero velocity. If 'h' is the height of the bob above the central position, then the potential energy E = m g h where 'g' is acceleration due to gravity.

When the bob passes through the central position, it has kinetic energy and maximum velocity,and it has zero potential energy. The kinetic energy K = m v2 /2 The total energy P = E + K The total energy changes from potential energy to kinetic energy and then again to potential energy in each swing or oscillation. [We neglect the loss of energy due to friction at the fulcrum and also the loss of energy due to air friction.] Then equating the maximum potential energy and maximum kinetic energy , we get:

m v2

/2

= m g h

cancelling 'm' on both sides, we get v = 2 g h ---------[equation 1]

This equation relates the velocity to height above the equilibrium position or central point. This equation is pretty useful for many calculations. Suppose a ball is thrown to a height of 10 meters; the

velocity with which it will hit the ground is given by this equation ; velocity = sqrt( 2 x 9.8 x 10) m/second. Since the velocity varies from 0 to this value v, we take the average velocity:

Vav -----equation 2

(1/2) ( 2 gh )

Let us calculate the total distance traveled in one swing. The arc length from central position to right swing s= L x where x

is the angle in radians. The total arc length in one swing is : S = 4 L x ------equation 3 Now we have the expressions for total distance the bob travels and the average velocity, we can relate the two and find the time for one swing or period: {recall the formula: distance= speed x time] PERIOD T = S / V
---------equation 4 Now we must relate the height h to the angle x. Using geometry , we get: h/ s = sin (x/2) x
av

= 8 L x / (2 g h )

We make the approximation for small angles: sin x = Then or ----------equation 5 Substituting for h in equation 4, we get h/s = x/2 h = ( s x )/2 = (L x.x)/2

T = 8 (L/g

--------------

equation 6

This expression for the period of a pendulum is approximate. The commonly used equation, derived from Calculus or using a sinusoidal wave and a 'mass on a spring ' formula is as follows: T = 2 (L/g)

-----------------equation 7.

2 x pi = 2 x 3.14 = 6.28. Our formula , equation 6 has '8' instead of ' 6.28' and therefore is more approximate. Keep this in mind!
Note that the equation 7 is also approximate in that it is applicable only for small oscillations when the angle of oscillation x is small, as also in our derivation. [we appoximate sin (x) = x for small x.] A correction term is applied as follows: T = 2 pi (L/g) [ 1 + x2 /16]

--- equation 8

Applications of pendulum
Simple pendulums were widely used for measuring 'g' accurately. You have to measure the period and the length of the pendulum and use the formula equation 7 or 8 to calculate 'g'. In 1620, Francis Bacon was the first to use a pendulum to measure gravity. Jean Richter, a French physicist measured 'g' using the pendulum clock at two places: Ceyenne in French Guiana and at Paris. The clock lost 2.5 minutes every day at Cheyenne due to lower 'g' there. "g " varies from 9.78 m/s.s at the equator to 9.83 at the poles---a variation of 0.5%. This may be a small variation;but if you are flying a rocket at two places with changes in latitude [say Cape Kennedy at Florida and in San Francisco] this difference in 'g' could mean a slight difference in lift-off time or escape velocity. Gravitational attraction: Since the gravitational force varies with distance to the centre of the earth as "inverse-square law" g varies with altitude as follows:

g(h) = g (0) [

r / (r+h)]2

where h is the height above the earth surface. On the moon: since g on the moon is one sixth of g on earth, a pendulum will swing faster on the moon! Exercises: 1 Calculate the length of a pendulum which will have a period of exactly two second.It is called "a second pendulum".

2 If you are on Mt Everest with 24000 feet altitude, what would be the period of a one-second pendulum? 3 Write an essay on the use of pendulum at various towns in the United states and how early railroad stations had different clock-times using the pendulums.

4 calculate the period of two pendulums of same length of 1 meter and 'g'= 9.8 ,but of swing angles 10 degrees and 20 degrees, using the formula of equation 8. 5 Space shuttle flew at an altitude of just 400 km. Calculate the period of one -second pendulum and 'g' at the height of 400 kms. References: 1 "Physics " by Giancoli 2 Lectures in Physics" by Feynman Appendix We can improve the result of derivation by changing the formula for average velocity. We took this velocity as max velocity/2. Instead if we take average velocity Vav = 2/3 (2gh)

we would get the following formula for period T:

T = 6 (L/g) This is closer to 2 pi = 6.28. What is the justification for this average velocity? It is obtained using the integral method: v (h) = ( (2g)) h1/2

To get thea verage of v, we take the integral of this function from h=0 to h=h and then divide by h: vav = k h1/2 dh from o

to h and then divide by h. This gives the factor : Vav = V max/ (2/3) Though this method is improved, again I am using a formula from integral calculus! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------