PTTS Solution

Level-1
Name:VAISHNAV SANKAR K
Course:Integrated MScEd Physics
Institute:Regional Institute of Education
Mysore

Question :

a) A simple pendulum is made with the bob of the pendulum, a hollow sphere of
radius R . To find the length of the pendulum, would you consider the length from
the hinge to the beginning of the sphere or end of the sphere or the centre? Give
reasons.

b) Let T be the period of this pendulum. If the hollow bob is filled fully with water,
will the period of the pendulum be more, less or same as T. Give reasons.

c) Suppose, there is a small leak and water drops very slowly. If the period of the
pendulum is experimentally found, will it be the same as T, or remains constant or
change with time. If so how?

Answer :

In a simple pendulum, it is said to have a point mass, m called the pendulum bob and
is suspended using a string of length L with negligible mass as compared to the mass
of the bob. θ is the angular displacement of the pendulum. Here, the forces acting on
the bob are the force of gravity(weight of the bob) and tension from the string.

Simple pendulum

1
 In the figure,The displacement from equilibrium is s which is the length of the
arc.The forces on the bob are marked. As we see,the weight of the bob (force of
gravity(F~g = m~g)) is directly downwards. The component of F~g , F~ = −m~g cos θ gets
cancelled out by the tension in the spring, F~t = m~g cos θ and results in a net force of
F~net = −m~g sin θ toward the equilibrium position—that is, F~net is the restoring force
−L(mg sin θ)

Now consider the torque on the pendulum. The force providing the restoring torque
is the component of the weight of the pendulum bob that acts along the arc length
s,which is F~restoring = −m~g sin θ. The torque(τ) can be expressed as the length of the
string, L times the component of the net force that is perpendicular to the radius of the
arc,(F~ = −m~g sin θ The minus sign indicates the torque acts in the opposite direction
of the angular displacement:

~τ = −L(m~g sin θ)
Now, ~τ = I~α where I is the moment of inertia and α
~ is the angular accelaration.

∴ I~α = −L(m~g sin θ)

~ , angular acceleration can also be written as ddt2θ , where θ is the angular

2
We know that α
displacement of the bob.
d2 θ
I 2 = −L(m~g sin θ)
dt
Here, I or the rotational inertia can be expressed as mL2 as the pendulum setup is like
a point of mass m, rotating about an axis at a distance L.

2d
2
θ
mL = −L(mg sin θ)
dt2
Now,dividing both sides by mL we get,

d2 θ g
2
= − sin θ
dt L

Observe that The term ddt2θ is the angular acceleration α. Now, α can also be written as
2

−ω2 θ (square of angular velocity times angular displacement),which will give us,
g
−ω2 θ = − sin θ
L
This differential equation is too difficult to solve so we take the approximation of sin θ
as θ because we know that from the graph of sin x and x that they are almost overlap-
ping each other at small values of x So,after approximation,

graph of sin x and x

2
 g
−ω2 θ = − θ
L
We can divide both sides by −θ and then what we have is ω2 = g
L
. Now taking the
square root of both sides ,we get r
g
ω=
L
ω is also expressed as ω = 2π
T
,where T is the time period. So writing the equation in
terms of T ,we get
s
L
T = 2π which is the time period of a simple pendulum having small angular displacement
g

Now lets get into the a part of the question,if a simple pendulum is made with the
bob of the pendulum, a hollow sphere of radius R . To find the length of the pendulum,
would you consider the length from the hinge to the beginning of the sphere or end of
the sphere or the centre?

In a simple pendulum, the bob is considered as a small point mass. The appropriate
effective length of the pendulum, Le f f for calculating the period of any such pendulum
is the distance from the hinge to the center of the bob. Why is that so? That is because
we don’t live in an ideal world. In our reality,as far as we know,there is no such thing as
a point mass.A point mass is a geometric (0-dimensional) point that may be assigned
a finite mass. Since such a point has zero volume, the density of a point mass having a
finite mass is infinite, so point masses do not exist in reality as far as we know. So what
can we do about this situation. We know that the center of mass is a position defined
relative to an object or system of objects which is the average position of all the parts
of the system, weighted according to the masses of the individual parts of the system.
For simple rigid objects with uniform density, the center of mass is located at the
centroid. For example, the center of mass of a uniform disc shape would be at its
center and the center of mass for a uniform hollow sphere also would be at its center.
But sometimes the center of mass doesn’t fall anywhere on the object. The center of
mass of a ring for example is located at its center, where there isn’t any material.
Since the total length of the simple pendulum is from the hinge to the point mass, here
as the single point of center of mass represents the whole object, we assume that the
length of the simple pendulum is the length from the hinges to the centre of mass of
the bob,which is at the center in this case.

The b part of the question says that if T be the period of this pendulum. If the hollow
bob is filled fully with water,will the period of the pendulum be more, less or same as
the time period T.

As we fill the hollow spherical bob fully with water, the mass of the bob increases.
But does the increase in mass of the bob  have any
q effect
 in the time period of the
pendulum? The equation of time period, T = 2π Lg of a pendulum derived earlier
indicates that the time period,T of a pendulum depends only on the length of the pen-
dulum and the acceleration due to gravity and not on mass. Did the addition of mass

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change the center of mass of the bob? No. The bob is filled fully with water and now
its a filled sphere than the previous hollow sphere, we know both of their centre of
mass lies on the centroid,that is in the center as both the structures are uniformly sym-
metrical about the point in the center. So the effective length Le f f is also not changed
with respect to center of mass. Since there has been no change in the length as well as
the acceleration due to gravity for a fully water filled spherical bob,as per the equation,
we will be obtaining the same time period T for the pendulum.
Lets consider another aspect of the same problem. Since the fully water filled bob has
its center of mass unchanged when compared to the hollow sphere bob,the effective
length remains the same.The mass has increased for sure. What if the increased mass
increased the tensile stress and caused a strain in the string? Then the effective length
would have increased and thereby the time period would have increased by a small
amount than the previous time period.

Lets consider the cth part of the question. Suppose if there is a small leak and water
drops very slowly. If the period of the pendulum is experimentally found, will it be the
same as T, or remains constant or change with time?

We can answer this question by referring to the previous questions. It has been found
that the time period of a pendulum depends upon the effective length of the pendulum
and the acceleration due to gravity. It is also found that the time period of the hollow
spherical bob is same as that of the water filled bob as both of them has their centre of
mass at the same position owing to symmetry and centre of mass.
When water drips out slowly,the uniform distribution of mass inside the bob gets dis-
turbed. And as a result, the center of mass shifts. This shifting in the center of mass
from the center of the sphere results in the changing of the effective length of the pen-
dulum and thereby changing its time period.
As the water drips out fully, the sphere now becomes just a hollow sphere and the
shifted center of mass returns back to the same place it before was, that is at the center
of the sphere. This implies that the effective length also changes back and hence the
time period shifts back to the initial time period T.
We have found that the time period shifts and then changes back to the previous value.
Will the change be increasing or decreasing? That can be understood by the overall
mass distribution of a emptying water filled spherical bob. In such a case, it is found
that the as the water drips out and the water level in the bob decreases, the center of
mass slowly shifts downwards from the initial center of mass. And after a while as the
bob empties,the weight distribution changes and the center of mass returns back to the
position it was there at the start.
Since the center of mass changes√ downwards from the center of the sphere, the effective
length increases. Since T ∝ L, as the length increases, time period also increases.
And as the effective length decreases, time period also decreases.
Therefore, As the water filled bob drips out water and empties fully, the time period at
first increases and then decreases to return to the initial time period T.