A physical pendulum consists of a meter stick (of mass 0.3 kg) that is pivoted at a small hole drilled through the stick a distance x from the 50 cm mark. The meter stick is then released from rest (at a small angle from vertical) and allowed to oscillate with negligible friction. The period of this oscillation is observed to be 3.7 s.
a.) Find the distance x.
b.) What is the rotational inertia of the ruler around this pivot?
c.) If the angle of release is 4o from the vertical,
What is the initial gravitational potential energy of the pendulum?
(Answer relative to the usual reference: Ug = 0 is the lowest value that occurs during the oscillation.)
What will be the maximum angular speed of the stick during this oscillation, and what angle does the stick make with the vertical when it occurs?
?max = ?
occurs at ? = ?