pendulum
125
4.3
- noun
- /ˈpɛndʒələm/
:
péndulo
- The pendulum of the grandfather clock swung back and forth with a soothing rhythm.
- the pendulum swings
- a pendulum clock
- frequency of the pendulum
Are we starting to see the pendulum returning to the centre?
- Are we starting to see the pendulum returning to the centre?
- An example would be a pendulum or a swinging ball.
- It's just that that pendulum swings back and forth.
- Can you prevent the double pendulum from being chaotic?
Examples
-
Then, as if someone had swiftly arrested the pendulum of a clock, Sister Gertrude's head stopped moving.
Fiction book (1994) -
Keep your eyes on the pendulum and relax.
-
The first was his observation that a pendulum could be used as a clock.
Academic text (2002) -
Transfixed, I watched the heavy pendulum sweep through its arc, driving home the hour.
Fiction book (2002) -
In our science class, we learned how a pendulum can demonstrate the principles of gravity and motion.
-
During the experiment, the pendulum swayed gently, illustrating the concept of periodic motion.
Compounds
- Specialized
A stiff object that swings back and forth from a horizontal support that is not at its middle point
- Archaic
A heavy object hanging from a rod that measures a bullet's speed when hit
- Specialized
A large heavy weight on a long wire that swings in any direction to show the Earth's rotation
- Archaic
A suspended gun that measures bullet speed from its backward swing when fired
- Specialized
A tropical fern that grows on trees with long twisted straplike leaves
- Specialized
A solid object that swings around a fixed horizontal axis that is not through its middle
- Specialized
A small weight hung from a light string of fixed length that swings back and forth
How Big
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pendulum comes from the Latin pendere, which means 'to hang', and it shares this root with common words like suspend and depend. So a pendulum is literally something that hangs and swings back and forth, which is why clocks and simple science experiments use it.