Chapter 7

Pendulum by Video Analysis

Introduction

In the previous chapter, the simple pendulum was investigated. It consists of a mass
M (also called bob) suspended by a string of length L, whose mass is negligible
compared to M, fixed on a support. For it to be considered experimentally a simple
pendulum, the object that plays the role of the bob should have its dimensions very
small compared to the length L. The bob can be localized at any instant by the angle
θ formed between the string and the vertical. The physical system is in stable
equilibrium at θ ¼ 0. Once out of equilibrium, the system oscillates under the action
of two forces: weight, W, whose absolute value is given by the product Mg, and the
tension on the string, T. The position of the bob, s(t), is determined by an arc of
circle whose origin is on the lowest point of the trajectory, and is defined as positive
on the right. The angle θ is a function of time and it is related to the position by the
equation s(t) ¼ Lθ(t). Considering the radius of the bob’s trajectory given by the
length of the pendulum L, and using the following relations for the centripetal and
tangential accelerations:

d 2 sðt Þ d 2 θðtÞ
at ¼ ¼ L ð7:1aÞ
dt2 dt2
2
v
actp ¼ ð7:1bÞ
L

we obtain the radial and tangential movement equations:

v2
M ¼ T  Mg cos θ ð7:2aÞ
L

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 83

V.L.B. de Jesus, Experiments and Video Analysis in Classical Mechanics,
Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-52407-8_7
84 7 Pendulum by Video Analysis

d 2 θðtÞ
ML ¼ Mg sin θ ð7:2bÞ
dt2

neglecting the air resistance. Simplifying Eq. (7.2b) one obtains:

d2 θ g
þ sin θ ¼ 0 ð7:3Þ
dt2 L

From Eq. (7.3), it is possible to note that the solution for θ(t) is independent of
the pendulum’s mass. However, Eq. (7.3) does not have analytical solution. Thus, a
numerical approach most be used to solve it.
Nevertheless, if the θ(t) value remains small during the movement of the
pendulum, one can use an approximation for small angles (sinθ  θ) and write
Eq. (7.3) as

d2 θ g
þ θ¼0 ð7:4Þ
dt2 L

Eq. (7.4) represents the simple harmonic motion. It is easy to verify that the
solution of Eq. (7.4) is given by
θ(t) ¼ θ0 cos (ω t + ϕ),
with θ0 being the maximum amplitude of the pendulum’s motion, ϕ corresponding
to the initial phase, and ω being the angular frequency, which is related to the length
as ω2 ¼ g/L. The period is given by T ¼ 2π/ω. Therefore, the period of the pendulum
motion, considering the approximation for small angles, depends only on its length
and the acceleration of gravity. This relation can be written as:
sffiffiffi
L
T ¼ 2π ð7:5Þ
g

But what would be the dependency of the period for any value of θ?
According to Beléndez [1], the solution of the nonlinear Eq. (7.3) can be
obtained after some mathematical manipulations, and the period can be obtained
by the following equation:

2
T ðθ0 Þ ¼ T 0 K ðkðθ0 ÞÞ ð7:6Þ
π

The constant T0 is given by Eq. (7.5), corresponding to the solution of Eq. (7.4)
considering the approximation for small angles sinθ  θ, and K(k) corresponds to
the complete elliptic integral of the first kind [2]:
Experimental Development and Data Analysis 85

Z 1
dz
K ðk Þ ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
  ð7:7Þ
0 ð1  z2 Þ 1  kz2

The variable z and the constant k are given, respectively, by:

sin ðθ=2Þ
z¼ ð7:8Þ
sin ðθ0 =2Þ
k ¼ sin 2 ðθ0 =2Þ ð7:9Þ

The constant θ0 is the maximum amplitude of the pendulum motion.

Experimental Development and Data Analysis

The elliptic integral presented in Eq. (7.7) can be numerically solved using an
electronic worksheet,1 choosing the integral step as 1% of the total variation. Since,
in this case, z should vary between 0 and 1, then dz ¼ 0.01. Using the value of z in
each point to calculate the integrand of the function K(k), which we call f(z), we can
calculate the area under the curve f(z) in the step interval dz using the following
relation:

dAzn ¼ ð1=2Þ½f ðzn1 Þ þ f ðzn Þ dz ð7:10Þ

which approximately corresponds to the area under the integrand in the interval dz.
We use the mean value of the function f(z) between zn  1 and zn, aiming to reduce
the systematic error in each interval dz, as it is shown in Fig. 7.1. Note that for
each value of the maximum amplitude, θ0, it is necessary to calculate the value of
the complete elliptic integral, because k depends on θ0. After that, the result should
be applied to Eq. (7.6).
As an example, Table 7.1 shows the result of the elliptic integral ((7.7)) that
corresponds to the maximum amplitude θ0 ¼ 1.352 rad. Applying this value and
gstandard ¼ 9.7877394 m/s2 to Eq. (7.6), in the case of the pendulum of length
L ¼ 0.35  0.01 m used in this experiment, we find:
sffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
L 0:35
T 0 ¼ 2π ¼ 2π ¼ 1:188s
g 9:7877394

1
Carvalhaes and Suppes [3] present high precision calculations concerning the period of the simple
pendulum.
86 7 Pendulum by Video Analysis

Fig. 7.1 Element of the area under the curve f(z) between zn–1 and zn, whose step is dz. Observe
that the strategy is based on the calculation of the area of the rectangle whose base is dz ¼ zn–1–zn,
and the height is given by the mean value of the functions at zn–1 and zn. This method decreases the
systematic error in the calculation of the integral. The element of area on the left of the curve that is
incorrectly added is compensated by the element of area on the right that is not taken into account.
The smaller the step, the lower the final error

2 2
T ðθ0 Þ ¼ T 0 K ðθ0 Þ ¼  1:18815  1:782617659 ¼ 1:348s
π π

Proceeding in the same way as described before, we can calculate several points
of the function T(θ0), which are presented in Table 7.2.
The period of the pendulum is defined as the time interval of one complete
oscillation. This time interval can be easily measured using a stopwatch, but we can
also use video analysis. Using video analysis, the accuracy of the measurement of
the period is increased. This allows the investigation in details of its dependence
with the maximum amplitude. Figure 7.2 shows a snapshot of the Tracker software
presenting the pendulum for the maximum angle of 1.352(6) rad, or 77.5(4) degrees.
The numbers 6 and 4 between the parenthesis at the end of each measurement
express the uncertainty, meaning the same as 1.352  0.006 rad and 77.5  0.4
degrees.
The best results are obtained by video analysis when the physical system is well-
lit. In this experiment, to improve the illumination, a set of four lamps and a small
shield, to avoid direct incidence of the light on the smartphone camera (30 fps),
were positioned under the pendulum. This is the reason why we can see in Fig. 7.2
the pendulum in its ascending motion with reasonable sharpness. Note that the
measured experimental point was selected at the end of the “trail” of the pendulum
motion instead of the central point. This is due to the fact that the camera keeps the
Experimental Development and Data Analysis 87

Table 7.1 Exemplification of the procedure of the numerical calculation of the complete elliptic
integral of the first kind
Variable Area corresponding to the interval dz
Integrand f ðzÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1
z ð1z2 Þ ð1kz2 Þ (dAzn)
z0 0 1
z1 0.01 1.000069579 0.010000348
z2 0.02 1.000278379 0.01000174
z3 0.03 1.000626593 0.010004525
z4 0.04 1.001114538 0.010008706
z5 0.05 1.001742662 0.010014286
... ... ... ...
zn ndz f(zn) (1/2)[f(zn–1) + f(zn)]dz
... ... ... ...
z98 0.98 6.361357034 0.057684945
z99 0.99 9.029654625 0.076955058
z100 0.999 28.65328806 0.188414713
Result of the integral K(θ0) ¼ sum of column dAzn 1.782617659
The step of the integral was chosen as 1% of the total variation of z, namely dz ¼ 0.01. The result of
the integral corresponds to the maximum amplitude θ0 which is 1.352 rad or 77.5

obturator open for a certain time interval (the brighter the scene, the smaller the
time interval), and so we always need to choose the position of the object under
investigation at the end of this time interval, taking into account the direction of the
motion, to avoid systematic errors.
We also observe on the left of Fig. 7.2 a table containing x and y coordinates, the
time and the angle θ, respectively. The angle θ is defined as arctan(y/x). The
horizontal axis corresponds to the y coordinate (positive on the right), and the
vertical axis corresponds to the x coordinate (positive in the upwards direction). The
software allows to mark at every frame (so, at every time value) the position of the
pendulum, obtaining the data table presented in Fig. 7.2. Taking only the experi-
mental data concerning time and angle of oscillation, we can use any other program
to plot and fit a damped harmonic function. This function corresponds to:
 
Bt 2π
θ ðt Þ ¼ C þ θ 0 e cos tþϕ ð7:11Þ
T

The parameters C, θ0, B, T, and ϕ correspond, respectively, to the baseline

constant, the maximum angle of the pendulum motion, the damping constant
related to the weak action of the air resistance,2 the period of the pendulum (the
focus of this experiment), and the initial phase of the motion. Observing Table 7.3,
we can see that in all fits the values of C and cos ϕ are very close to zero. The

2
Arnold et al. [4] present an interesting discussion about the application of a damped pendulum in
a didactic laboratory.
 88

Table 7.2 Values of T(θ0) obtained by Eq. (7.6) used to generate the theoretical curve that is used to compare the experimental data obtained by video
analysis. The bold values correspond to the experimental values presented in Table 7.3
θ0 (rad) T (s) θ0 (rad) T (s) θ0 (rad) T (s) θ0 (rad) T (s)
0 1.194607459 0.40 1.206731441 0.828 1.24821415 1.214 1.315714016
0.05 1.194795168 0.45 1.209990145 0.85 1.251228157 1.25 1.32375047
0.10 1.195358623 0.50 1.213651559 0.90 1.25842715 1.30 1.335470127
0.15 1.196298801 0.510 1.214432739 0.95 1.266123042 1.35 1.347865685
0.20 1.197617341 0.55 1.217722356 1.00 1.274332026 1.352 1.348376016
0.2025 1.197693238 0.60 1.222210042 1.024 1.278459715 1.39 1.358290561
0.25 1.199316545 0.65 1.227122991 1.05 1.283071764 1.40 1.360969707
0.30 1.201399395 0.70 1.232470492 1.10 1.292361516 1.45 1.37481786
7

0.3089 1.201810633 0.75 1.238262808 1.15 1.302222276 1.48 1.383500052

0.35 1.203869565 0.80 1.244511233 1.20 1.312676938 1.50 1.389449264
Pendulum by Video Analysis
Experimental Development and Data Analysis 89

Fig. 7.2 Snapshot of the software Tracker. Both the coordinate axis and the pendulum oscillating
from right to left can be seen. The oscillation has a maximum angle of 1.352(6) rad

constant C being close to zero indicates that the choice of the x coordinate axis is
very close to the vertical. The cosine of the initial phase close to zero indicates that
the analysis of the motion was initiated very close to the maximum amplitude.
It is important to note that the fitting function procedure using Eq. (7.11) can be
avoided, opting for an alternative method of measure the period directly from the
graphs presented in Fig. 7.3. The procedure is very simple, it is necessary just to
measure the distance between two consecutive maxima, or measure the distance
between the first and third maxima, then dividing the result by two, reducing the
relative uncertainty. This procedure provides reliable values due to the reasonable
number of experimental data points.
Figure 7.4 shows the comparison between the theoretical prediction and the
experimental data concerning the period T and the maximum amplitude θ0. It is
important to note that the experimental data are in good agreement with the
theoretical model. The variation of the period compared to the value obtained in
the case of small oscillations, which is considered T0, can reach 15% in the case of
maximum amplitudes close to 85 . For maximum amplitudes close to 20 the
period can be considered to fluctuate around 2%.
The uncertainties presented in Fig. 7.4 have the same order of magnitude or are
smaller than the size of the experimental data labels. The video analysis of the
simple pendulum motion allows us to investigate in detail the dependence of the
period with the maximum amplitude, which is usually discussed theoretically, but
neglected in didactic laboratories.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the precision of time measure-
ment was very important for the determination of longitudes. The Dutch physicist,
mathematician, and astronomer Christiaan Huygens dedicated 40 years of his life
trying to develop and improve marine chronometers. In particular, he was interested
 90

Table 7.3 Parameters obtained from the fit function presented in Eq. (7.6)
Parameters Pendulum 1 Pendulum 2 Pendulum 3 Pendulum 4 Pendulum 5 Pendulum 6 Pendulum 7 Pendulum 8 Pendulum 9
θ0 0.2025(5) 0.3089(7) 0.510(1) 0.828(2) 1.024(3) 1.214(4) 1.352(6) 1.39(1) 1.48(1)
B 0.011(1) 0.0111(8) 0.0098(9) 0.0140(9) 0.016(1) 0.016(1) 0.016(1) 0.017(2) 0.022(2)
C 0.0073(2) 0.0082(3) 0.0073(4) 0.0017(7) 0.002(1) 0.010(2) 0.006(1) 0.005(3) 0.025(3)
T 1.1962(2) 1.2025(2) 1.2154(2) 1.2477(2) 1.2746(3) 1.3085(3) 1.3373(4) 1.3684(4) 1.3776(7)
ϕ 0.091(3) 0.017(2) 0.085(3) 0.135(3) 18.963(3) 6.330(4) 25.199(4) 37.719(7) 0.049(7)
The graphs and fits are shown in Fig. 7.3
7
Pendulum by Video Analysis
Fig. 7.3 Graphs of the pendulum oscillations for different maximum amplitude values as a
function of time. It is possible to observe that the maximum amplitudes increase up to 84.8(6)o
or 1.48(1) rad. A cosine type function multiplied by an exponential decay factor was used to fit the
experimental data

Fig. 7.4 Period of the pendulum as a function of the initial amplitude. The fit function corre-
sponds to Eq. (7.6)
92 7 Pendulum by Video Analysis

in building an isochronous pendulum, that is, a pendulum that had the same period
whatever its amplitude of oscillation. As we observed in this experiment, the simple
pendulum would not work for this purpose, even if used in cases of small fluctu-
ations, since the sway of the ships inevitably changed the oscillation amplitudes,
and in this way, its period. Burrowes and Farina [5] discuss the proposal of Huygens
to compensate this increase in the period of oscillation.

References

1. A. Beléndez, C. Pascual, D.I. Méndez, T. Beléndez, C. Neipp, Exact solution for the nonlinear
pendulum. Rev. Bras. Ens. Fis. 29(4), 645–648 (2007)
2. I.S. Gradshteyn, I.M. Ryzhik, Table of integrals, series and products, 5th edn. (Academic
Express, San Diego, 1994)
3. C.G. Carvalhaes, P. Suppes, O c
alculo de alta precis~
ao do período do pêndulo simples. Rev.
Bras. Ens. Fis. 31(2), 2701 (2009)
4. F.J. Arnold, R. Arthur, L.L. Bravo-Roger, M.S. Gonçalves, M.J.G. de Oliveira, Estudo do
amortecimento do pêndulo simples: uma proposta para aplicaç~ ao em laborat
orio de ensino.
Rev. Bras. Ens. Fis. 33(4), 4311 (2011)
5. M. Burrowes, C. Farina, Sobre o pêndulo is
ocrono de Christiaan Huygens. Rev. Bras. Ens. Fis.
27(2), 175–179 (2005)