Question

If you are building a clock by using a pendulum's oscillations to keep time and you find the period is a little too small (the clock counts seconds too quickly), what should you do to adjust the pendulum's period? O
a. Increase the length of the string
b. Increase the mass on the end of the string
c. Increase the amplitude of the swing
d. Decrease the length of the string
e. Decrease the mass on the end of the string

Answer 1

Time period of pendulum is given by

$T = 2\pi\sqrt{\frac{L}{g}}$

Here,

L is length

g is acceleration due to gravity

Therefore we can determine that the period of the pendulum is directly proportional to the square root of the length of the rope.

$T \propto \sqrt{L}$

Therefore, it is necessary to increase the length of the rope to increase the period so that it counts the seconds more slowly. The correct answer is A.