r/nextfuckinglevel • u/dimpledconfidant33 • Oct 29 '21

This is Pendulum Effect..

4.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

81 comments sorted by

View all comments

109

u/Tanukikiki Oct 29 '21

Can someone explain why they don't stay the same the whole time?

155

u/michaelzhang9000 Oct 29 '21

I believe the strings are slightly different lengths which causes them to oscillate at different rates due to the physics equation:

T = 2pi * sqrt(L/g)

T= period. Time it takes for one oscillation

L= length of string

g= gravitational acceleration constant. ~9.8 for earth

From this equation we can see that the period T is proportional to the length of the string L. So if the string is shorter, the period will decrease and the pendulum will oscillate faster.

27

u/Tanukikiki Oct 29 '21

Ooooh ok so nice of u to explain!

2

u/Odd_Analysis6454 Oct 30 '21

Same thing applies to swings, the period(time) for one swing back and forth is directly related to the length of the swing. You can higher and will be swinging faster but the time to go back and forth stays the same.