Experiment with Conical Pendulum

Abstract

Conical pendulum is similar to simple pendulum with the difference that the bob, instead of moving back and forth, swings around in a horizontal circle.Thus, in a conical pendulum the bob moves at a constant speed in a circle with the string tracing out a cone .This paper describes an experiment with conical pendulum, with determination of g from the dynamics of the pendulum bob.. The fact that, with increasing speed of revolution, the horizontal plane of rotation shifts towards the point of suspension is demonstrated with the governing equation ω2 h = constant = g. It is also shown that, in this case, the tension on the string approaches the centripetal force on the bob. Possible demonstrations like revolving planet with spin motion and vertical pendulum are discussed.