Wilberforce Pendulum

There are two oscillatory modes happening here. One is the familiar up and down bounce of the spring. The other is the torsional oscillation that causes the pendulum to rotate. The periods of each of the oscillations is the same, and the effect we see is where the energy is transferred from pure up and down to pure rotational and back again.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• wilberforce
• pendulum
• torsional
• waves
• longitudinal
• spring
• oscillation
• 3A70.10

[BerkeleyLectureDemos]

In squeezing or stretching a spring, you give it a slight twist. This allows the bouncing motion to turn into a twisting motion and vice versa. But only if there is resonance between the two movements, ie the time it takes to bounce up and down is equal to the time it takes to twist left then right. Wikipedia has a good entry on this pendulum.

[PlutonGB]

interesting

[wallsk8r]

im glad i finally found a video of this

[StrangerEight]

I have absolutely no idea why.. But i actually laughed out loud (in reality) at 0:27

[classicalheartburn]

@The4LA2Baker0

See, now, YOU are cool! You were receptive to me trying to help you out, which makes sense. Although, like I said, thank you for the things that you guys did contribute, those things were helpful.

You and me bud, let's be friends. We get it already, lets let them figure it out eventually.

[The4LA2Baker0]

classicalheartburn,

Thanks man. FTR i was up late drunk and my inebriated mind couldn't think logically.

Also, there are no dumb questions IMO, except ones that have already been answered. I have responded to many question i thought were obvious, without being a dickhead like some of the other commentators.

On a side note, I have seen magnetic devices that will move forever without any outside forces. they dont do anything, just look cool.

[DesertedBaby]

to answer your question: if not for frictional forces, sound, deformation of the metal in the spring no energy would be lost and the spring would continue oscillating forever- conservation of energy and momentum

the intuitive way of thinking about the basic laws of motion is that to keep something in motion you must constantly apply a force or energy- this was the incorrect theory until a man by the name of Newton came along and showed otherwise

[classicalheartburn]

In The4LA2Baker0's defense, just because someone doesn't know something doesn't mean you have to act like the bully on the playground, or support the bully's actions.

You didn't know how to read at one point, and not everyone knows the same stuff as you. Why be rude, and persecute someone for the desire of knowledge that probably also got you where you are today?

Thank you for answering the question RuudJH, Thank you for offering knowledge InVainvassist.

[InVainbassist]

In RuudJH's defense, that was probably one of the dumbest questions I've heard in a while. I assumed you were trolling. I would recommend you take an intro physics course