Question #5440f

1 Answer
Mar 18, 2016

A seconds pendulum is defined as a pendulum whose time period is exactly equal to 2 seconds.

Explanation:

Alternatively seconds pendulum has frequency equal to 1/2 Hz. It takes one second to move from one extreme to the other while swinging and takes again one second for the return swing to the other end.

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If we ignore air resistance, and for small swings we know that, time for one complete oscillation of a pendulum T=2 pisqrt(L/g)
where L and g are length of the pendulum and acceleration due to gravity respectively.
Therefore, length of Seconds pendulum L_@=g/pi^2,
inserting standard g=9.80665 ms^-2, We obtain its length as
L=9.80665/pi^2=0.994m rounded to third place of decimal.

If someone asks you about a Seconds pendulum on moon, only answer is about its defined time period.