The Pendulum
Part 3: Period as a Function
of Length
Return the value of the
damping parameter to 0. In this part we will explore how the period
of the pendulum depends on its length.
- How can you determine the
period from your plots of either solutions or trajectories?
- Find the period for each
of the starting displacements. Does the period depend on the starting displacement?
[If the answer is yes, in the rest of this Part we will consider only the
initial displacement theta(0) = 0.5.]
- Experiment with different
length pendulums, ranging from 0.1 meter to 2 or more meters,
calculating the period of each. Record and plot your [length, period]
pairs.
- Make a conjecture about
the relationship between length and period, and cite any evidence you have
to support your conjecture.
Send comments to the
authors <modules at math.duke.edu>
Last modified: March 24,
1998
