Consider a simple pendulum of length 1.1 m with

m = 2.9 kg.
If the amplitude of the oscillation is 0.11 m (as measured along the circular arc along which it moves), what is the total mechanical energy of the oscillator?
____ Joules

1 answer

When all the mechanical energy is kinetic energy, the energy is

1/2*m*v^2 = 1/2*m*omega^2*r^2

where m is the mass, r is the radius, and omega is the angular velocity; For a pendulum, the angular velocity is given by omega = (g/r)^0.5