Lesson plan
Pendulum
A pendulum is a mechanical device consisting of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting mechanical equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity, which will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position. When released, the restoring force acting on the pendulum's mass causes it to oscillate about the equilibrium position, swinging back and forth. The time for one complete cycle, a left swing and a right swing, or frequency, is commonly known as its "period". The period depends both on the length of the pendulum and, somewhat, on the amplitude (the width of the pendulum's swing). The SI unit of the period of a pendulum is the second (s). The regular motion of a pendulum lends itself to timekeeping. The pendulum clock was invented by Christiaan Huygens in 1656. It became the world's standard manner of timekeeping for several centuries. The Shortt-Synchronome clock achieved accuracy of about one second per year before it was superseded as a time standard by the quartz clock in the 1930s. Pendulums are also used in scientific instruments such as accelerometers and seismometers. Historically, pendulums were used as gravimeters to measure the acceleration of gravity in geo-physical surveys, and as a standard of length. The word pendulum is Neo-Latin, from the Latin , meaning .
Article summary
A pendulum is a mechanical device consisting of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting mechanical equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity, which will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position. When released, the restoring force acting on the pendulum's mass causes it to oscillate about the equilibrium position, swinging back and forth. The time for one complete cycle, a left swing and a right swing, or frequency, is commonly known as its "period". The period depends both on the length of the pendulum and, somewhat, on the amplitude (the width of the pendulum's swing). The SI unit of the period of a pendulum is the second (s). The regular motion of a pendulum lends itself to timekeeping. The pendulum clock was invented by Christiaan Huygens in 1656. It became the world's standard manner of timekeeping for several centuries. The Shortt-Synchronome clock achieved accuracy of about one second per year before it was superseded as a time standard by the quartz clock in the 1930s. Pendulums are also used in scientific instruments such as accelerometers and seismometers. Historically, pendulums were used as gravimeters to measure the acceleration of gravity in geo-physical surveys, and as a standard of length. The word pendulum is Neo-Latin, from the Latin , meaning .
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.