Question

A pendulum and a mass spring system are both undergoing simple harmonic motion on Earth (use g = 10 N/kg). It is observed that every time the pendulum goes back and forth, the spring has gone up and down 12 times. If the pendulum has a length of 4 meters and the mass is 100 g, determine:

a)The period of the pendulum?
sec

b)The period of the spring-mass system?
sec

c)the spring constant of the spring?
N/m


d)On the moon, how many times will the mass bounce up and down when the pendulum swings back and forth one time?
times

Answer 1

The period of a pendulum is 2*PI*(L/g)^0.5, where L = 4 meters; g = 10 m/s^2

The period of the spring is 1/12 of the answer in a)

c: 2*PI/Tspring = (k/m)^0.5
Tspring is the period of the spring found in part b, m is the mass = 0.1 kg. Solve for k, the spring constant of the spring.