TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Swinging Pendulum
This activity demonstrates how potential energy (PE) can be converted to kinetic energy (KE) and back again. Given a pendulum height, students calculate and predict how fast the pendulum will swing by understanding conservation of energy...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Swinging Pendulum
This activity shows students the engineering importance of understanding the laws of mechanical energy. More specifically, it demonstrates how potential energy can be converted to kinetic energy and back again. Given a pendulum height,...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Swing Low: Investigate the Motion of a Pendulum
Kids love to ride the swings at the playground. The back-and-forth motion of a swing demonstrates the physics of a pendulum. In this experiment, you will investigate the factors that affect the speed and duration of a pendulum's swing.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Pendulum Lab
An interactive simulation that teaches about periodic motion, simple harmonic motion, and conservation of energy. Observe one or two pendulums to determine how the swing is influenced by the length of the string, the mass of the pendulum...
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Pendulum Lab
Manipulate the mass of a weight and the length of string in this interactive pendulum simulation. Change the speed, friction, and gravity to make the pendulum swing change as measurements are displayed on the screen. Younger students can...
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Swing Thing
In this activity, students will construct a pendulum and create a motion plot for a swinging pendulum. They will also identify characteristics that affect a pendulum's motion.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Tic, Toc: Pendulum Motion
In this activity, students' will use a motion detector to plot the position versus time graph for a swinging pendulum. They will determine the period of the motion and model the position data using a cosine function.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Swinging Ellipses: Plotting an Ellipse
In this activity, Students can use a motion detector to record the position and velocity of a swinging pendulum. They will plot the data as a velocity versus position phase plot and determine an ellipse that fits it.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Pendulums Swing Into Motion
This lesson will allow students in groups to describe the relationship between energy, work, and force through the use of pendulums. The results will be reported through a graphing activity as well as a paragraph written and printed on...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Into the Swing of Things
Students learn the basic properties of periodic and harmonic motion, and how the rearrangement of the simple pendulum equation can be used to solve for gravitational acceleration, pendulum length, and gravity. At lesson plan end,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Swinging With Style
Students experientially learn about the characteristics of a simple physics phenomenon - the pendulum - by riding on playground swings. They use pendulum terms and a timer to experiment with swing variables. They extend their knowledge...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Swing in Time
Students examine the motion of pendulums and come to understand that the longer the string of the pendulum, the fewer the number of swings in a given time interval. They see that changing the weight on the pendulum does not have an...
American Association of Physics Teachers
Com Padre Digital Library: Open Source Physics: Swinging Atwood's Machine Model
Variation on the standard Atwood's Machine model, where one hanging mass swings like a pendulum and the other remains stationary. Manipulate the conditions and observe the results.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Science of Swinging
Students learn what a pendulum is and how it works in the context of amusement park rides. While exploring the physics of pendulums, they are also introduced to Newton's first law of motion - about continuous motion and inertia.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Magnetic Pendulums
See how electricity and magnetism interact with this activity. Activity has students creating a current by swinging a copper coil through a magnetic field. The copper coil will start a second coil swinging as well.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Coupled Resonant Pendulums 2
Understand the concept of resonance to allow you to cause two pendulums to swing in an identical cycle. Pendulum are constructed from simple materials like string, pencils, paper clips, and pennies.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Resonant Pendulum
An experiment in resonance that demonstrates how to make a pendulum swing widely by exerting only a small force.
PBS
Pbs Kids: Zoom Science: Introduction to Pendulums
What is a pendulum? What makes it swing? Who was Leon Foucault? Discover the answers to these and related questions.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Trig and Forces: The Pendulum
Using Newton's Laws of motion to calculate the acceleration of a pendulum as well as to compute and draw its position along the swing and move about the screen in a computationally based graphic system.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Inductive Pendulum
Get the swing of electromagnetic induction with this simple tutorial. (Java tutorial)
Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Practice Problems: Determining G From Pendulum
Students must calculate the strength of the gravitational field based on the swinging motion of a pendulum.
Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Practice Problems: Robin Hood Swing
Students must predict how far Robin Hood will move horizontally as he first swings like a pendulum and then sails like a projectile into a lake below. This video explains the problem: https://youtu.be/4ZEmvPEJTW4
TOPS Learning Systems
Tops Learning Systems: Top Science: Paper Clip Pendulums [Pdf]
Investigate how the length of a pendulum's chain or string affects the frequency of its swings.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Swinging Along
Students model the data from the motion of a pendulum by a periodic function. They relate its parameters to the time for one period, the distance it is pulled back, and its distance from the motion detector.