In this paper I describe an experiment in which the maximum speed and damping of a physical pendulum are measured as the position of its center of mass is varied. The measured speeds are fit to an exponential decay model using the Solver function of Excel. Energy conservation provides calculated values for the dependence of velocity on center-of- mass (c.m.) position.
Topics
Energy conservation
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© 2004 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2004
American Association of Physics Teachers
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