A simple pendulum sits on a merry go round moving with #4m/s# and having a radius of #2m#. Calculate the time period of the pendulum?
1 Answer
Period, I get 0.395 s.
Explanation:
The formula for the period of a pendulum is
To solve this problem we need to interpret g as the vector sum of the normal value of g and the centripetal acceleration due to that 4 m/s rotation. The reason we need to do that is that the "restoring force" is increased by the centripetal force.
The centripetal acceleration is given by
The centripetal acceleration is perpendicular to straight down (the direction of normal g). Therefore the sum of the 2 accelerations is found using Pythagoras:
So, for this situation, we use
Hmmm, I know you said the answer was 0.30 s. I am continuing the request to "double check my answer".
I hope this helps,
Steve