Question

What is the principle of compound pendulum?

Answer 1

Hint:In order to state the principle of compound pendulum, we have to know what the compound pendulum is. The compound pendulum is just a rigid body of whatever shape, capable of oscillating about a horizontal axis passing through it or a rigid body mounted upon a horizontal axis so as to vibrate under the force of gravity is a compound pendulum.

Complete answer:
Compound pendulum, also called physical pendulum is different from simple pendulum as a simple pendulum is represented by a mass of no size attached to a string of with no mass. A compound pendulum represents a real object that is swinging about a point other than its center of gravity.

A compound pendulum is just an extension of a simple pendulum.The principle of compound pendulum states that the time period and frequency of the compound pendulum depends on the length of gyration, the moment of inertia and the mass of the pendulum as well as gravitational acceleration.

This allows us to treat the mass attached to the pendulum though it were a single point. In a compound pendulum, the distance between the center of gravity of the swinging body and the axis of suspension is comparable to the dimensions of the body. We can also measure the value of acceleration due to gravity by using a compound pendulum.

Note: The compound pendulum is different from simple pendulum in many ways.The oscillating mass is much smaller than the distance between the axis of suspension and center of gravity in a simple pendulum while it is comparable in size in compound pendulum. Also, the attached mass has no effect on the time period of a simple pendulum while the mass of the body attached and how it is distributed affects the time period of the compound pendulum.