How Is the Pivot Distance Calculated in a Physical Pendulum?

[sophzilla]

"A physical pendulum consists of a meter stick that is pivoted at a small hole drilled through the stick a distance d from the 50 cm mark. The period of oscillation is 5.27 s. Find d."


I know that the period for a physical pendulum is T = 2pi * sqrt (I/mgL).

I'm really stuck on how to start out this one. Should I define the center of mass first? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Andrew Mason]

"A physical pendulum consists of a meter stick that is pivoted at a small hole drilled through the stick a distance d from the 50 cm mark. The period of oscillation is 5.27 s. Find d."


I know that the period for a physical pendulum is T = 2pi * sqrt (I/mgL).

I'm really stuck on how to start out this one. Should I define the center of mass first? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

What is the mass in the pendulum? Can you treat the mass as a point mass located some distance from the fulcrum? If so, where would it be? (Hint: what is the moment of inertia of the metre stick?. I think you are to ignore the width of the metre stick).

AM