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  • A museum visitor interacts with the Pendulum Snake exhibit

Pendulum Snake

These balls dance in changing patterns as they swing to their own rhythms.

Lift the handle to start this row of pendulums swinging, and then watch as they move in and out of a repeating series of mesmerizing patterns.


Where:   Crossroads: Getting Started
Exhibit Developer:   Erik Thogersen, 2000

What’s going on?

Each of these swinging balls is a pendulum that swings back and forth at a slightly different rate, determined by the length of string supporting it.

The longest pendulum swings back and forth exactly 15 times in 30 seconds. Its neighbor swings 16 times in 30 seconds, the next 17, and so on down to the shortest one, which swings exactly 24 times in 30 seconds. Since every pendulum completes a whole number of swings in 30 seconds, they all come back together every 30 seconds.  

After 15 seconds, the even-numbered pendulums have completed a whole number of swings and are back where they started. The odd-numbered pendulums are exactly halfway through one of their swings and are opposite where they started. The result is two opposing lines of pendulums that seem to dance with each other.

 
Phenomena: Motion: Pendular Motion, Motion: Periodic Motion, Motion: Simple Harmonic Motion, Phase, Resonance
Keywords: pendulums
Aliases: Snake Pendulum

More to explore

Science activity that demontrates pendulums of different lengths swinging to their own rhythms
Pendulum Snake

Pendulums dance in a shifting series of patterns as they swing to their own rhythms.

Science activity that demonstrates resonance in a pendulum
Coupled Resonant Pendulums

Two pendulums influence each other’s motion to create Intriguing patterns.

Science activity that demonstrates resonance in a pendulum
Resonant Pendulum

Big swings from little pulls grow.

Related exhibits

Coupled Pendulums
Coupled Pendulums

Linked pendulums can get one another going.

Chladni Singing
Chladni Singing

Use your voice to make visible patterns in sand.

Oscylinderscope
Oscylinderscope

See how strings behave when they vibrate and make sound.

Rolling Through the Bay
Rolling Through the Bay

Ping-pong balls take a spin through a toothpick San Francisco.


IMLS acknowledgment

This web project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-30-16-0175-16].

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