Re: pinhole Re: Science Fair Ideas

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From: John or Jan Lahr (johnjan@lahr.org)
Date: Fri Nov 05 2004 - 05:40:41 PST


Message-Id: <6.1.1.1.2.20041105062610.0244d2f8@mail.comcast.net>
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 06:40:41 -0700
From: John or Jan Lahr <johnjan@lahr.org>
Subject: Re: pinhole Re: Science Fair Ideas


One possibility would be to build models of various types of pendulums.
We usually think of a mass on the end of a string (simple pendulum), but there
are many other styles of pendulum.  For seismologists, the goal is to have a
compact pendulum that has such a long period that a very, very tall simple
pendulum would be required.  I've described a few of these on my web
site:

Folded pendulum:  http://jclahr.com/science/psn/folded/
Inverted pendulum:  http://jclahr.com/science/psn/inverted/
Another "folded" design:  http://jclahr.com/science/psn/romberg/
Swinging gate horizontal pendulum:  http://jclahr.com/science/psn/hard_drive/

A physical pendulum is another type of pendulum with a long
period, but it isn't used in seismology because its response to
ground vibrations is poor.

The student could just work on pendulum designs, or if
interested, go ahead an build a working seismic sensor.

Cheers,
John Lahr




At 04:18 PM 11/4/2004, you wrote:
I feel odd asking but I need some topic ideas for a boy who wnats to do a physics based project in the science fair.  He said something about wanting to do a pendulum-based project but I feel like all the equations are known so why do a project on something so well described already.  Any ideas?

Charlie Bissell

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