In this paper, we offer three examples, inspired by Galileo's work, for connecting the physics of the pendulum with free fall and the inclined plane. The first example discusses the time it takes for a ball to slide down a frictionless inclined plane along a chord, drawn from the lowest point of a vertical circle to any point on the circle. The second example discusses a timing method that Galileo tested in measuring free fall directly, and the third example outlines an approach we have developed for accurately calculating the period of a pendulum for any angle, using only the kinematics of accelerated motion along an inclined plane, first studied by Galileo.
Topics
Educational assessment
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Galileo Galilei, Two New Sciences, translated by Henry Crew, Dover (Dover, 1954/1637).
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© 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2003
American Association of Physics Teachers
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