How To Make A Pendulum Wave (Science Experiment / Physics Toy)

For this project I show how to make make a pendulum wave, an interesting science/physics experiment where a series of pendulums is measured so that each one moves slightly faster than the one before it. If measured correctly the pendulums converge to form a variety of patterns on a repeating cycle.

Here are the measurements I used, starting with the longest pendulum and moving toward the shortest: 230mm, 211mm, 196mm, 183mm, 170mm, 159mm, 149mm, 140mm, 131mm, 124mm, 117mm, 110mm, 105mm, 99mm, 94mm, 89mm

Using the equation in the video you can make a pendulum wave of any size by replacing the variable 'L' with the desired length of your longest pendulum when calculating the variable 'K'. Once K has been determined for that starting length Just replace the variable 'n' with the number 2 through however many more pendulums you would like in the series and calculate L for each of them.

Special thanks to my top Patrons! Syniurge, Matthew Leitzke, & TheBackyardScientist!

Music: Marsbeing - Dew

[Ceridewn]

I stumbled acrossed one of your videos the other day, and can't stop watching them. I loved science as a kid, but my high school teachers sucked the fun out of it with not wanting to help explain anything and just moving on. I love how you actually want to teach how these things are done, and explain everything in detail. It makes it so easy to understand. Keep doing everything you are doing, you're amazing.

[spacetalks]

I also made same model by seeing this video. I got first prize in my science fair.

[martas]

Love it! I'm working on a golf-ball version and the wave so far is not quite what it should be. Now I can at least check the pendulum lengths with a formula. I really like the use of hex nuts for weights. Their open shape gives the wave an even better visual effect, plus the whole structure will be a lot lighter and portable

[Nerdforge]

I enjoyed it! Great video, always an inspiration :)

[Makebuildmodify]

Thank you for the great explanation! I've wanted to make one of these for a while now.

[johnhutchinson]

Really love the pendulum. I agree it might be a little hard to figure the numbers if you're very young but there are some young children that are gifted that could take this steps further. Have you thought about making it a continuous swinging pendulum by adding an electromagnet system to fluctuate during it swaying back and forth? That would be a great project.

[Devo]

If you use the metric system as often as you can, you'll quickly become bilingual, and can flip between systems intuitively.
Thanks for such a good explanation. Your students are very lucky, and have a good chance of becoming scientists.
Inspired by you!

[rolliebca]

Cool pendulum wave. Nice build, explanation, and thanks for the math formula behind it. Always look forward to seeing your videos!

[sastrydasigi]

Excellent, clear presentation. Educational and entertaining. Thanks for a great job.

[PatrickVankeirsbilck]

Finally could derive it by myself. It reveals that your K equals the number of periods performed by the longest pendula decreased by two units. The part in between the round brackets in the denominator of the formula could therefore also have been: N1 + n - 1 where N1 is the number of periods performed by the longest pendula.

[jameskelly]

I did not know that this would involve quite a lot of math. That's really interesting. If you ever revisit this project, it would be cool to see a synopsis of how this equation is derived.

[taylorsyme]

Despite all the negative comments, I thought it was a verry cool interesting video to watch like all of yours and I loved it . Keep doing what you love man ! I hope you might get to read my comment :)

[shouvikmondal]

I was looking for a coupled pendulum video but I got your video instead.And it's worth watching!Thank you sir for making this video.

[blackviking]

Every video you turn out is top tier! It's just amazing how you make great content every time.

[lyndonzink]

I built one based on your design with some modifications: golf balls for the pendulums, screws instead of push pins (makes adjusting the length easier). Also your formula is more complicated than it needs to be, since k is an integer then k+1 is also so you don't need the 1.

[jhengis]

Nice. Bringing back my college days on physics. Luv that the equation not dependent on 'mass'.

[ntaylorblanchard]

Fabulous! I will make one to show my 6th grade Science class when we study pendulums as an introduction to orbits.

[sachinmahajan]

+1 for demonstrating in VERY easy to understand & with most accurate measurements.. :)

[daneekaplan]

I love this project. It is gorgeous and you broke down the steps in to something most people should be able to accomplish

[thalesnemo]

Thanks for explaining the equation’s variables.