The period of a pendulum swing is given by the following equation: T = 2π√(L/g), where L is the length of the pendulum, g is the gravitational constant, and T is the period. With this information, if an identical pendulum were swung on the Earth and the moon, where gravity is 1/8th that of Earth’s, how much longer will the period of the pendulum swing on the moon be?
Explanation
Answer: D - Looking at the equation, the only thing that is changing is g. We can eliminate 2π from the equation because it is a constant. Thus, T = √(L/g). If we assume L is 1, then T = 1 on earth and √8 on the moon, which is approximately 2.8. Thus, the period of the pendulum swing on the moon is 2.8 or √8 times of that on earth.
