The Timekeeper: Where Does a Swinging Pendulum's Energy Go?
Sim Lesson
Students use the Timekeeper simulation to release a pendulum and observe that it moves fastest at the bottom of its swing and is momentarily still at the highest points, tracing how kinetic and potential energy trade off. Lesson Purpose Students often think a swinging object has the same energy everywhere. Watching where it is fastest and where it stops builds the idea that kinetic and potential energy trade back and forth while the total stays constant.
A Swinging Pendulum A playground swing speeds up as it drops toward the bottom and slows to a stop for an instant at the top of each swing. As a pendulum swings back and forth, where does its energy go? In this lesson, you will use the Timekeeper simulation to swing a pendulum and watch where it moves fastest and where it pauses.
Topics and standards: Science, Energy, Physics, Physical Science, Mechanical Energy, Simulation, Motion, Forces & Motion, HS-PS3-2, Grades 9-12, Forces, AP Sciences, SC.912.P.10.6, TEKS Science PHY.7.C, 3.2.9-12.P