Study of the damping of a simple pendulum: a purpose for teaching laboratory

Abstract

The pendula are largely used in teaching activities of physical introductory courses. Often, in these activities an ideal model is used to study the behavior of the pendulum. In this work a model that takes into account the oscillation damping is suggested. An experimental methodology is purposed aiming to detect the falling down of oscillation amplitude and to fit these data to a mathematical model. The results show that the simple pendulum, set up by a small volume sphere and oscillating on low speed, can be studied with simplified models. The methodology and the mathematical model are appropriated for the knowledge level of the students from physic introductory courses and offer a more realistic insight about the pendulum behavior.

pendulum; damping; Reynolds number