Can someone tell me about pendulums?

Question

I only need the basics of a pendulum and/or the history of pendulums.

Answer 1

A pendulum of a given mass and a given length will have a steady movement. The "period", or time for the pendulum to swing back and forth, is constant. This is the principle behind clocks that use pedulums ... like a grandfather clock or a cuckoo clock. The shorter the length of the pendulum, the faster the pendulum swings. So to speed up my cuckoo clock, I slide the weight up on the pendulum stick.

Interesting historical note: Galileo became aware of the properties of pendulums by watching the chandelier sway in church. He timed the period by counting heartbeats, using his pulse.

Answer 2

A simple gravity pendulum or bob pendulum is a weight (or bob) on the end of a rigid rod (or a string/rope), which, when given an initial push, will swing back and forth under the influence of gravity over its central (lowest) point.

History

The pendulum was discovered by Ibn Yunus during the 10th century, who was the first to study and document its oscillatory motion. Its value for use in clocks was introduced by physicists during the 17th century, following observations from Galileo.

The most widespread application is for timekeeping. A pendulum whose time period is two seconds is called the seconds pendulum since most clock escapements move the seconds hands on each swing. Clocks that keep time with the use of pendulums lose accuracy due to friction.

Answer 3

Galileo (or was it Da Vinci) calculated the timing of them, and the rules for them from calculated timings, using his own pulse.