Pendulum Physics
You are doing a science experiment. You tie two strings to a horizontal bar, one is 50cm long, the other 40cm long. You tie a weight to the bottom of each string, both identical. You lift them up the same amount, let go at the same time, and count how many periods each make in 15 seconds.
Which pendulum will swing faster?
Note: A period is where a pendulum swings away from you, then back again.
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1 solution
I have actually done this experiment in real life, so I can say firsthand that the shorter the string is, the faster it will swing. The reasoning is this: the longer the string is, the farther the weight will fall. This means that it will take longer for it to swing back and forth.
Though this was not an issue in this problem, the weight's mass does not affect the pendulum's speed.