Pendulum System: Single Pendulum

Highlights of the activity

1. This small group activity is designed to help upper division undergraduate students to recall the equation of motion and solving the simple harmonic equation.
2. Students asked to find and to solve the equation of motion of a single pendulum
3. The wrap-up discussion focused on giving students perspective that single pendulum is the foundation to understand a periodic system.

Reasons to spend class time on the activity

Students are familiar with the equation of motion of the pendulum. They have been learning about this from their intro classes, Oscillations, and 1 Dimensional Waves. This activity would help the students remember what they have learned and to get the students thinking about how to apply a simple idea to a more complicated system.

Reflections

• Reflections from the original implementation.

• Reflections from "official" adapters/adopters.

• Reflections from the general public.

Instructor's Guide

• Wiki version