Pendulum

In our experiement we are setting up a ordinary pendulum. But what we are going to figure out is when the wheel touches a frictionless surface at a certain angle, would the wheel spin and keep it at a consistent speed and cycle of motion.

Physics involved

• friction
• frequency

David Ramos

Robert Jordin

Frank Lewis

4th period

2016

What we are using to build this experiement is play dough, popsicle sticks, a wheel, rubber tape, and a piece of string attaching to the wheel and legos.

1. Gather materials.

2. Measure the play dough to the exact length of the popsicle stick.

3. Using four popsicle sticks wrap them around the play dough with rubber tape.

4. Build it at least three stories high.

5. Make sure those are connected to each other.

6. To secure the bottom from falling either glue it down or use other popsicle sticks to balance it or use play dough.

7. Repeat steps 2-6 for a second pillar

8. For the top repeat steps 2-7 but only two stories in length horizontally.

9. Attach the string through the legos that is holding the wheel.

10.Tape down the string on top of the structure.

11.Pull the wheel back and let go.

12. If the structure is unbalanced use support to hold the structure up.

Again we are just observing if the wheel can still be in a pendulum like motion but have it spin when it touches the ground and be consistent going back and fourth. We had this idea because we wonder if a wheel can spin while in a pendulum like motion and still be consistent doing that we found another way for an endless pendulum.

This is what our setup look liked. You can also can change the sizes of the pillars to see if works as well.