{"title":"The Coriolis effect and coupled oscillations in a rotating swings amusement ride","authors":"J. Schilder, Ann-Marie Pendrill","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/ad1ed6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n Rotating swings are found in many different versions in parks around the world. They are beautiful examples of the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass: Empty swings and swings with heavy adults hang at the same angle to the vertical. However, sometimes you may notice empty swings moving in a different pattern in an outdoor ride, where wind can induce additional motion, sideways or back to front, in addition to any oscillations caused by a tilted carousel head. This paper focuses on oscillations for the simpler case of a non-tilting roof. Even for this case, the oscillating motion is found to be complicated by the Coriolis effect, which leads to a gyroscopic coupling between sideways oscillations and back-to-front oscillations. This coupling is illustrated for a few special cases.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Physics","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad1ed6","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Rotating swings are found in many different versions in parks around the world. They are beautiful examples of the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass: Empty swings and swings with heavy adults hang at the same angle to the vertical. However, sometimes you may notice empty swings moving in a different pattern in an outdoor ride, where wind can induce additional motion, sideways or back to front, in addition to any oscillations caused by a tilted carousel head. This paper focuses on oscillations for the simpler case of a non-tilting roof. Even for this case, the oscillating motion is found to be complicated by the Coriolis effect, which leads to a gyroscopic coupling between sideways oscillations and back-to-front oscillations. This coupling is illustrated for a few special cases.
期刊介绍:
European Journal of Physics is a journal of the European Physical Society and its primary mission is to assist in maintaining and improving the standard of taught physics in universities and other institutes of higher education.
Authors submitting articles must indicate the usefulness of their material to physics education and make clear the level of readership (undergraduate or graduate) for which the article is intended. Submissions that omit this information or which, in the publisher''s opinion, do not contribute to the above mission will not be considered for publication.
To this end, we welcome articles that provide original insights and aim to enhance learning in one or more areas of physics. They should normally include at least one of the following:
Explanations of how contemporary research can inform the understanding of physics at university level: for example, a survey of a research field at a level accessible to students, explaining how it illustrates some general principles.
Original insights into the derivation of results. These should be of some general interest, consisting of more than corrections to textbooks.
Descriptions of novel laboratory exercises illustrating new techniques of general interest. Those based on relatively inexpensive equipment are especially welcome.
Articles of a scholarly or reflective nature that are aimed to be of interest to, and at a level appropriate for, physics students or recent graduates.
Descriptions of successful and original student projects, experimental, theoretical or computational.
Discussions of the history, philosophy and epistemology of physics, at a level accessible to physics students and teachers.
Reports of new developments in physics curricula and the techniques for teaching physics.
Physics Education Research reports: articles that provide original experimental and/or theoretical research contributions that directly relate to the teaching and learning of university-level physics.