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Downloaded 2009-01-16 from Charles H. Henderson & John F. Woodhull (1901) The Elements of Physics, D. Appleton & Co., New York, p.59, fig.21 |
Adding detail to the model of the pendulum.
The "Solution" header and the bold items below should NOT be changed. Only the regular text within the macros should be altered.
Solution
System: A model of a pendulum, simply supported and free to swing without friction about a supporting axis under the torque due to gravity.
Interactions: torque due to gravity and the upward force exerted against gravity by the axis.
Model: Angular Momentum and External Torque about a Single Axis
Approach:
Diagrammatic Representation
We consider first the usual Simple Model of a Pendulum
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And then a slightly more detailed model
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With two variations.
Mathematical Representation
The simple model has the virtue that it is extremely simple to calculate themoment of inertia, I, of the pendulum about the axis of rotation. We assume a massless stick of length L and a [point mass] m at the end. The moment of inertia is simply
\begin
[ I = mL^
]\end
If we pull the pendulum away from its vertical equilibrium position by an angle θ, then the restoring force Fres is given by
\begin
[ F_
= m g sin(\theta) ]\end
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