Why is a pendulum's potential energy mgcosθ/2l?

fridsatu · Nov 2, 2005

I am sure this is simple to most people...but i don't understand how to show potential energy of a pendulum to be mgcostheta/2l. is there anybody that could break that down for me??

Chi Meson · Nov 2, 2005

First of all, it's not.

PE of a pendulum is mg [L-Lcos(theta/2)].

What's the usual formula for PE? What of the above formula is equal to the "h"?

Why is a pendulum's potential energy mgcosθ/2l?

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Why is a pendulum's potential energy mgcosθ/2l?

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