Circular pendulum and cycloidal pendulum
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Setting:Interactive Rooms
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Maker:Centro di Studi e Restauro per la valorizzazione di orologi antichi e strumentaria storico-scientifica - ITIS Leonardo da Vinci, Florence
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Date:2011
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This model illustrates the difference between the oscillations of the circular pendulum and the cycloidal pendulum.
The pendulum is a physical system composed of a cord and a weight, whose oscillations take place in equal intervals of time (isochronism).
The oscillations of a circular pendulum (which describes arcs of a circumference) are however isochronous only when they are rather short. The oscillations of a cycloidal pendulum (which describes arcs of a cycloid) are isochronous regardless of their amplitude.
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