Chief Delphi - Building a Clock with Periodic Motion

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Bareiss

Biff is right, a one meter pendulum should swing with a one second period no matter how many times it swings. There is a simple equation to find the period of a pendulum.

I don't know it off the top of my head, but I can imagine that you should because it is your class.

First step is going using the equation to be find a pendulum that swings exactly one second. If you build it right it should easily be accurate for 2 minutes.

I tried making a one meter pendulum in class today (before I read this post), and it works.

The pendulum isn't very fancy - a two liter bottle full of water - but it works. :)

If anyone's got any ultra-creative ideas, though, I've still got until Friday to improve on the design.

Thanks to everyone that's posted - the posts here have helped me to come up with some more ideas. Luckily, the simplest one seems to be the best...