Re: Big Ben...

[David Dockstader <DRDOCK00@UKCC.UKY.EDU>]

On Sat, 28 Sep 1996 20:36:17 -0500 (CDT) Brad Shue said:
Good answer Brad.  This is why the old wind up watches ran faster after they
were wound and slower as they unwound.  Delissa needs to tell us if adding
pennies made the clock run slower, which your answer would predict, or faster
which my answer predicts. (at least if they put the pennies on top of the bob)

> On Sat, 28 Sep 1996, Delissa Souder wrote:
> > pennies on it.  By adding or subtracting pennies on the bob of the
> > pendulum, they could adjust the period of the pendulum.  How is this so?
> > I've always thought the period of the pendulum is independent of its mass.
>
> A clock pendulum is not a "simple pendulum", it is a "physical pendulum".
> It also does not swing freely because it must drive a mechanism and is
> kept swinging by a push from the mechanism.  By adding pennies, you change
> the moment of the pendulum which will change the period because of the
> complexities introduced by the external mechanism.
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> James Bradford Shue                             jshue@comp.uark.edu
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