Swinging: Measuring forces with oscillations
Friday, October 7, 2016 - 05:01
in Physics & Chemistry
A child swings on a swing, gaining momentum with its legs. For physicists, this is a reasonably easy movement. They call it parametric oscillation. Things are getting more complicated if -- in addition to the child's efforts -- the mother (or the father) is around to push the swing. The interaction between the pushing force and the parametric oscillation can become very intricate, making it hard to calculate how much force the parent expends from the resulting irregular swinging motion.