Question

Why do shorter pendulums swing faster?

Answer 1

Pendulum:

1. A pendulum is a body or object that is suspended from a fixed point so that it can swing back and forth under the influence of gravity.
2. From the above figure, a pendulum's complete back and forth oscillation has a uniform time interval.

Why do shorter pendulums swing faster?

1. The swing time period of a pendulum can be calculated by the formula,

$\mathrm{T}=2\mathrm{\pi }\times \sqrt{\left(\frac{\mathrm{L}}{\mathrm{g}}\right)}$

Here, $\mathrm{L}$ is the length of the pendulum, $\mathrm{g}$ acceleration due to gravity.

2. From the above formula, the time period $\mathrm{T}$ is directly proportional to the length of the pendulum, so, the shorter the length of the pendulum the shorter its time period and vice versa, and its swing faster.

3. Since, shorter pendulums swing faster, because, A pendulum with a longer string has a lower frequency than one with a shorter string, which means it swings back and forth fewer times in a given period of time.

Hence, due to the above reasons, the shorter pendulums swing faster.