Google
Google for Education: Modeling Pendulums Using Computational Thinking
In this demonstration, students learn how to use computational thinking to discover the laws which govern a pendulum's swing.
Concord Consortium
The Concord Consortium: Molecular Workbench: A Pendulum
Change the mass of a suspended object to see how its movement and forces are affected by gravity.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Inductive Pendulum
Get the swing of electromagnetic induction with this simple tutorial. (Java tutorial)
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Magnetic Pendulums
See how electricity and magnetism interact with this activity. Activity has students creating a current by swinging a copper coil through a magnetic field. The copper coil will start a second coil swinging as well.
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Molecular Workbench: Inverted Pendulum on Oscillatory Base
Adjust variables in this simulation and observe as the results of your changes are graphed.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Using Ph Et Simulations in High School Open Ended Pendulum Labs
These labs provide examples of using very open-ended questions to guide students in exploring a simulation and designing their own experiments. These labs can lead to a high level of quantitative thinking about data analysis.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Swing in Time
Students examine the motion of pendulums and come to understand that the longer the string of the pendulum, the fewer the number of swings in a given time interval. They see that changing the weight on the pendulum does not have an...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Into the Swing of Things
Students learn the basic properties of periodic and harmonic motion, and how the rearrangement of the simple pendulum equation can be used to solve for gravitational acceleration, pendulum length, and gravity. At lesson end, students are...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Calculating the Effect of Mass, Length and Displacement
In this physics lab activity young scholars investigate how mass, length and angular displacement affect the period of a simple pendulum. Students control variables, testing one variable at a time, using manual techniques (stopwatch,...
Science Museum, London
Science Museum: Online Stuff: Huygens' Clocks
Find out about Christiaan Huygens who built the world's first pendulum clock in 1656. The pendulum clock became the most accurate clock in the world for nearly 300 years.
American Association of Physics Teachers
Com Padre Digital Library: Open Source Physics: Swinging Atwood's Machine Model
Variation on the standard Atwood's Machine model, where one hanging mass swings like a pendulum and the other remains stationary. Manipulate the conditions and observe the results.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Swinging With Style
Students experientially learn about the characteristics of a simple physics phenomenon - the pendulum - by riding on playground swings. They use pendulum terms and a timer to experiment with swing variables. They extend their knowledge...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Science of Swinging
Students learn what a pendulum is and how it works in the context of amusement park rides. While exploring the physics of pendulums, they are also introduced to Newton's first law of motion - about continuous motion and inertia.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Galileo: His Experiments
This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site samples Galileo's experiments with falling objects, projectiles, inclined planes, and pendulums.
SRI International
Performance Assessment Links in Science: Observing Objects
This is a performance task for Grade Four students where they observe two different pendulums and compare the two types of motion. The activity is designed for a lab setting where students work at individual stations. A rubric and...
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: Author: Edgar Allan Poe
This site focuses on Edgar Allan Poe's life and his short stories. It includes a link to a Poe biography and links to the full text of 53 of his short stories including the following: "The Black Cat," "The Tale Tell Heart," "The Fall of...
University of Maryland
Thinking Problems in Oscillations and Waves
A series of thought-provoking, multichoice questions from the University of Maryland on the topic of oscillations and waves. Equations for calculating the period of motion for masses on springs, pendulums, sounds, and waves on a string...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Pendulum of Fear Experiment
Demonstrate how friction affects the energy in a pendulum.
Curated OER
Coupled Resonant Pendulums 2
Students observe what happens when two pendulums have the same natural frequency in this experiment.
Curated OER
Rice University: Galileo's Pendulum Experiments
This site from The Galileo Project of the Rice University provides a great look into the pendulum experimens of Galileo. Contains first-hand writings and examples of experiments along with links to additional information.
Curated OER
Rice University: Galileo's Pendulum Experiments
This site from The Galileo Project of the Rice University provides a great look into the pendulum experimens of Galileo. Contains first-hand writings and examples of experiments along with links to additional information.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Swing Thing
In this activity, students will construct a pendulum and create a motion plot for a swinging pendulum. They will also identify characteristics that affect a pendulum's motion.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: How Can a Clock Part Measure Gravity?
In this activity students will learn how to make a simple pendulum. Students' will use a motion detector to measure the period of a pendulum and calculate its acceleration.They will also understand the effect that gravity has on the...