Pendulum
3D Rendering of an abstract pendulum
A pendulum is a rigid body suspended from a fixed point where the rigid body swings, in a vertical plane, back and forth under the influence of gravity.
The cycle time can be computed as follows. If:
- the rigid body has negligible size; and
- the suspension device (e.g. a string or rod) has negligible weight; and
- the swing angle is negligible
then the cycle time to swing back and forth is:
- Let GravityFeetPerSec2 = 32.17
- CycleTimeSec = 2 * Pi * SQRT (LengthFt / GravityFeetPerSec2)
For a swing angle of 22 degrees the cycle time will be longer by about 1%. For 32 degrees the time will be longer by about 2%. Formulas for the cycle time that consider swing angle are available but are complex.
