Abstract
The conical pendulum has this name due to the circular uniform motion the bob performs in the horizontal plane. Therefore, the area of the circle can be seen as the base of a cone whose generator is the pendulum string. Only two forces act on the bob, its weight and the tension on the string. Traditional experimental methods are used to test the relation of the wire tension as a function of its mass, period of the circular motion and length, without the need to measure the angle with respect to the vertical or the radius of the circular trajectory. Only a scale, a stopwatch and a dynamometer are used. The uncertainties are estimated and discussed.
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Notes
- 1.
Briefly, cylindrical coordinates can be understood as polar coordinates (r, ϕ) in the horizontal plane (xy plane) combined with the z Cartesian coordinate. The relation between Cartesian and cylindrical coordinates are
x = r cos ϕ;
y = r sin ϕ;
z = z.
Reference
J.R. Taylor, An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurements, 2nd edn. (University Science Books, Sausalito, 1996)
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de Jesus, V.L.B. (2017). Conical Pendulum. In: Experiments and Video Analysis in Classical Mechanics . Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52407-8_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52407-8_8
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Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52407-8
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