Description: At the lowest point of its swing, all of the gravitational potential energy Utop that was stored in the pendulum in raising it to the top of its swing gets converted to kinetic energy Kbottom.
Instructions: If the accelerometer is used as the mass on the pendulum, the reading at the lowest point of the swing is the value of centripetal acceleration.
Items Used: Vernier Wireless Dynamics Sensor System, MegaNet BTOES 2.0 USB Dongle, string, computer, projection system
Notes: When the accelerometer is held perfectly horizontal, it reads approximately -g. This is because we are accelerating upward at approximately 9.8 m/s^2. Thus, when calibrated properly, the accelerometer is set to read 0 when no net force acts on it, so that it reads approximately -g at the perfectly horizontal position (since it accelerates upward at an acceleration ~ g), and approximately 2g at the bottom of the swing. Math Description: => mgr = (1/2)mv^2 => (v^2/r) = 2g Instructor Page
