Force analysis of a pendulum

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

The following is a pendulum.

The blue arrow indicate the weight mg of the pendulum,
 and the square shows two component of weight (m*g*sinθ,m*g*cosθ).
The red arrow is the velocity vector (v).
The cyan arrow shows the tension of the string (T= m*g*cosθ+m*v²/L, where L is the length of the pendulum). The second term is the centripetal force required for the circular motion.)

You can click the stop button to pause the simulation and drag the black dot to change length and angle of the pendulum (the velocity will be set to zero when you drag the black dot).

You can drag the end of the velocity arrow to change it's velocity and watch how tension force changed,too!

Embed a running copy of this simulation
<applet code='users.ntnu.fkh.pendulumforce_pkg.pendulumforceApplet.class' archive='http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/ejsuser/2/ejs_pendulumforce.jar' name='pendulumforce4279' id='pendulumforce4279' width='543' height='495' mayscript=true><param name='draggable' value='true'></applet>
Embed a running copy link(show simulation in a popuped window)
<a href='http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/msg.php?smfejs=4279' target='smfejs'>Run simulation</a>

Full screen applet or Press the Alt key and the left mouse button to drag the applet off the browser and onto the desktop. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Taiwan License

• Please feel free to post your ideas about how to use the simulation for better teaching and learning.
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• Upload worksheets as attached files to share with more users.

Let's work together. We can help more users understand physics conceptually and enjoy the fun of learning physics!

[lookang]

You can click the stop button to pause the simulation and drag the black dot to change length and angle of the pendulum (the velocity will be set to zero when you drag the black dot).

You can drag the end of the velocity arrow to change it's velocity and watch how tension force changed,too!

Hi Prof, I don't think the black dot is drag-able.
please verify?


BTW, this is a great vertical circular motion applet.

[Fu-Kwun Hwang]

Sorry! I need to change the order of the GUI elements to make it drag-able. (The shape should appear later than velocity/force arrows).
It is fixed now.