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Oscillations
Torsional Pendulum
Description
A torsional pendulum involves the oscillation of a rigid body in which the restoring force is provided by the torsion in the string from which the rigid body is suspended. Ideally, the string should be massless; practically, its mass is much smaller than the rigid body's mass and is neglected.
As long as the rigid body's angular displacem...
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Transcript
A torsional pendulum is a rigid body, like a top, suspended from a string that is assumed to be massless — an assumption that is valid if the rigid body's mass is much larger than the string's mass.
When the top is twisted about the string's axis and released, it oscillates between two angles. The restoring torque is due to shearing of th...
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