Finding the period (T) of a pendulum on Mars

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves determining the period of a pendulum on Mars, comparing it to its period on Earth. The original poster discusses their attempts to calculate the period using the formula for pendulum motion, noting discrepancies between their results and an answer key.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to apply the pendulum formula with given values for gravity and length, while questioning the source of a specific value used in the answer key. Other participants raise concerns about the validity of the original poster's assumptions regarding the pendulum's length and the comparison to lunar gravity.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants providing feedback on the original poster's calculations and assumptions. Some guidance has been offered regarding the need to clarify the pendulum length, but no consensus has been reached on the correct approach or values to use.

Contextual Notes

There are indications of confusion regarding the gravitational values for Mars and the Moon, as well as the specific length of the pendulum used in the calculations. The original poster's links to supporting images were initially problematic but have since been addressed.

asilvester635
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1. Homework Statement
The first astronauts to visit Mars are each allowed to take along some personal items to remind them of home. One astronaut takes along a grandfather clock, which, on earth, has a pendulum that takes 1 second per swing, each swing corresponding to one tick of the clock. When the clock is set up on Mars, will it run fast or slow?

It shows you that the clock on Mars will have a slower period on Mars (T = 2.45 sec.) than on Earth (T = 1 sec.). There's a section called "My Work Version #1", where I tried to solve the problem. The formula is pretty basic. Plug in acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s^2) and the length of the string (1 m). With that approach I got T = 3.26.

On the section called "My Work Version #2", I pretty much set T Earth and T Mars and tried to solve for T mars. At the end the value that I got under the square root is 0.166/1, but the answer key that they had is 1/0.166.

So the bottom line is, I have no idea how they got the value of 0.166 how they solved for the period, T, of Mars.

Homework Equations


T = 2pi(sqrt(L/g))

The Attempt at a Solution


To view the image, please click on the link and click download. Thanks.
https://myhpu-my.sharepoint.com/:i:...BGv3IJUrIPZ4EBcg9-xeH1d4WYptA04lKCKA?e=dA4YzU
 
Last edited:
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Neither of your links work for me. They produce error messages.
 
haruspex said:
Neither of your links work for me. They produce error messages.
Hey, I fixed it. It should let you to be able to download the image. I would post the image to the website but the image comes out to be low quality. It's better to download it. Thanks.
 
Their answer is wrong because they confused Mars with the moon. Our moon's surface gravity is one sixth of Earth's.

You answer is wrong because you plugged in "1" for L. The clock's pendulum length is not 1 m. It is the right length for timing one second on Earth, whatever that is.
 

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