1. Swing Capstone
-Nathaniel Gibson May 2012

2. I have had a swing in my back yard that i have
played on all my life. But what I hadn’t
thought about until this year of physics, is
what is actually happening when I am on the
swing. I decided to figure out the forces
acting on me.

4. The time that it takes me to go through
one complete cycle(one period T) is 10.2
seconds. we can use this to find the
radius of the pendulum (swing)

5. T(the period)=2*pi L/g
L = g(T/2pi)^2
=25.8m
25.8m

6. fnet
fnet fnet
the Fn vector changes direction and is vertical only
at the bottom. the Fn vector magnitude the faster
you go (max. at bottom) Mg stays the same.

7. I started
about 8m use conservation of energy to
from the find the velocity
bottom
1/2mv^2=mgh
8m
A so
25.8m V = 2gh
h=R- 25.8^2-8.0^2
h=1.27m
V=5.0 m/s

8. at the bottom, all of the Fnet is
the centripetal force
fnet
Fnet= mv^2/r
=m5.0^2
25.8
=m .97m/s^2
the normal force at the bottom is m(1.1g)
which is only 10% more than my weight

9. conclusion
• it is a long but gentle ride