Question

A. A PH202 student lives next to a construction site and sees a crane with a wrecking ball demolish the building next door. The wrecking ball swings along the wall between her house and the neighbor’s house. In an effort to determine the length of the cable on the wrecking ball the student builds a pendulum using a random rock and a string. Her pendulum turns out to be 0.500m long. While she plays with her pendulum she realizes that the wrecking ball swings back and forth in the same amount of time that it takes the rock to complete 5 full oscillations. What is the length of the cable on the wrecking ball?

Answer 1

The length of cable is 12.5 m

Step-by-step explanation:

Since, the wrecking ball completes 1 oscillation, in the same time, as it takes for the rock to complete 5 oscillations.

Therefore,

Time Period of Wrecking Ball = 5 (Time Period of Rock)

Since,

Time Period of Pendulum = 2π√(L/g)

Therefore,

2π√(L₁/g) = 5[2π√(L₂/g)]

√L₁ = 5√L₂

Squaring on both sides:

L₁ = 25 L₂

where,

L₁ = Length of Cable = ?

L₂ = Length of string = 0.5 m

Therefore,

L₁ = 25 (0.5 m)

L₁ = 12.5 m