pendulum

Also known as simple pendulum

thumb|300px|"Simple gravity pendulum" model assumes no friction or air resistance.

AI overview

A pendulum is a weight suspended from a fixed point that swings back and forth under the influence of gravity. Pendulums matter because their regular, predictable motion has made them useful for timekeeping and studying the principles of physics.

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Commons category: Pendulums

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~68 min read

Article

45 sections

Contents

Mechanics
Simple gravity pendulum {{anchor|Simple}}
Period of oscillation
Compound pendulum
Double pendulum
History
1602: Galileo's research
1656: The pendulum clock
1673: Huygens's ''Horologium Oscillatorium''
1721: Temperature compensated pendulums
1851: Foucault pendulum
1930: Decline in use
Use for time measurement
Clock pendulums
Temperature compensation
Mercury pendulum
Gridiron pendulum
Invar and fused quartz
Atmospheric pressure
Gravity
Accuracy of pendulums as timekeepers
''Q'' factor
Escapement
The Airy condition
Gravity measurement
The seconds pendulum
Early observations
Kater's pendulum
Later pendulum gravimeters
Standard of length
Early proposals
The metre
Britain and Denmark
Other uses
Railroading
Seismometers
Schuler tuning
Coupled pendulums
Religious practice
Education
Torture device
See also
Notes
References
Further reading

thumb|300px|"Simple gravity pendulum" model assumes no friction or air resistance.

A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position. When released, the restoring force acting on the pendulum's mass causes it to oscillate about the equilibrium position, swinging back and forth. The time for one complete cycle, a left swing and a right swing, is called the period. The period depends on the length of the pendulum and also to a slight degree on the amplitude, the width of the pendulum's swing. The SI unit of the period of a pendulum is the second (s).