[Phys-L] Re: measuring the period of a pendulum

[Rick Tarara <rtarara@SAINTMARYS.EDU>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Whatcott" <betwys1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
> I have rolled dissimilar balls down a ramp, timing the progression by
>  heartbeats, in the Galilean manner. This gave me ample opportunity
> to massage the results in ignorance of variable angular momenta
> of the balls.
>
> But I knew that more precision could be obtained by identifying an
> instance of a spacetime event.    One plausible method would be to
>  shine a laser pointer on the  lowest point of the pendulum's bob.
>
> That would give me an easy opportunity to discover that holding a photo
> sensor near the bob, and connecting to an oscilloscope or counter
> or electronic stop watch or viewing with a videocamera
>  would give more reproducible results.
>
>
> Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!

Then we could have a stepping motor to change the length of the pendulum,
send all the data to the computer where it would be automatically compiled,
graphed, and analyzed, and then the results could be printed out.  Now how
do we get the computer to write up it's own procedure, finish the analysis,
and write a summary/conclusion?

;-)

Rick

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Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
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