Wilberforce Pendulums

 

Code Number: 3A70.10

Demo Title: Wilberforce Pendulum

Condition: Good

Principle: Modes of a Pendulum

Area of Study: Oscillations & Acoustics

Equipment: 

Wilberforce Pendulums and Laser if Desired.

Procedure:

Usually the laser is not required for most demonstrations as most classes it is used in are small enough to see the different modes.  If the laser is used it should be pointed at the mirrors that are attached to the pendulum so that the modes may be seen by the oscillations of laser reflected light.

References:

  • Thomas B. Greenslade Jr., "Apparatus Named After Our Academic Ancestors - VII", TPT, Vol. 62, #8, Nov. 2024, p. 636.
  • Lutz Frank Kasper, "New Options for the Old Wilberforce Pendulum", TPT, Vol. 61, #7, Oct. 2023, p. 628.
  • Charles A. Sawicki, "Cheap and Easy Coupled-Oscillations Demonstration", TPT, Vol. 36, # 7, Oct. 1998, p. 417. 
  • Frank G. Karios and Karl C. Mamola, 'Wilberforce Pendulum, Demonstration Size", TPT, Vol. 31, #5, May 1993, p. 314. 
  • Paul Chagnon and Joe Pizzo, "Animated Displays: Coupled Mechanical Oscillators", TPT, Vol. 30, #5, May 1992, p. 275.
  • Robert J. Whitaker, "L.R. Wilberforce and the Wilberforce Pendulum", TPT, Vol. 26, #1, Jan. 1988, p. 37.
  • Thomas B. Greenslade Jr., "Sommerfelds Spring (Photo)", AJP, Vol. 79, #9, Sep. 2011, p. 908.
  • Thomas Gallot, Daniel Gau, Rodrigo Garcia-Tejera, "Coupled Oscillations of the Wilberforce Pendulum Unveiled by Smartphones", AJP, Vol. 91, #11, Nov. 2023, p. 873.  
  • Michael J. Moloney, "Coupled Oscillations in Suspended Magnets", AJP, Vol. 76, # 2, Feb. 2008, p. 125.
  • Richard E. Berg and Todd S. Marshall, "Wilberforce Pendulum Oscillations and Normal Modes", AJP, Vol. 59, #1, Jan. 1991, p. 32.
  • Ulrich Köpf, "Wilberforce's Pendulum Revisited", AJP, 58, #9, Sept. 1990, p. 833. 
  • P. Mohazzabi and J. P. McCrickard, "On the Spring Constant of a Close‐Coiled Helical Spring", AJP, Vol. 57, #7, July 1989, p. 639.
  • Jearl Walker, "The Amateur Scientist: Strange Things Happen When Two Pendulums Interact Through a Variety of Interconnections", Scientific American, Vol. 253, #4, Oct. 1985, p. 176.
  • "M-964. Wilberforce Pendulum-Door Spring", DICK and RAE Physics Demo Notebook, 1993.
  • G. D. Freier and F. J. Anderson, "Mx-11", A Demonstration Handbook for Physics.
  • Keith Clay, "A Smart Wilberforce Pendulum", The Caliper Fall 2017, Vernier Software & Technology, p. 3.
  • Richard Manliffe Sutton, "S-18", Demonstration Experiments in Physics.
  • Julien Clinton Sprott, "1.19. Wilberforce Pendulum", Physics Demonstrations, ISBN 0-299-21580-6, p. 54.
  • Jearl Walker, "1.150. Wilberforce Pendulum", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 71.
  • L. R. Wilberforce, "XLIV. On the Vibrations of a Loaded Spiral Spring", Philosophical Magazine Series 5, Vol. 38, 1894, p. 386.
  • Robert Ehrlich, "G.1. Wilberforce Pendulum", Turning the World Inside Out and 174 Other Simple Physics Demonstrations, p. 89 - 90.
Keith Clay, "A Smart Wilberforce Pendulum", Vernier Software & Technology