"Long pendulums in gravitational gradients"
B. H. Suits
Abstract
Previous results for long pendulums above a spherical Earth are
generalized for arbitrary non-uniform gravitational fields in the
limit of small oscillation. As is the case for the previous
results, gravitational gradients are multiplied by the length of the
string even though the string is assumed massless. The effect is
shown to arise from the constraint on the motion imposed by
the string. The significance of these results for real
gradients is discussed.
European Journal of Physics 27, L7-L11 (2006).
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